


Change my Mind

by handlerssaywecant



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Awkward Flirting, Battle of the Bands, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-09 14:29:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 67,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4352486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/handlerssaywecant/pseuds/handlerssaywecant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Well it’s about time! I thought you forgot about me while hanging out with Louis all the time. You guys are practically dating.” Niall says. This makes Harry freeze, and before he can think about it he blurts out,<br/>	“I kinda want to have his babies.” Harry’s life flashes before his eyes… What the hell did he just say. His hands fly up to cover his mouth and to shove the words back into his mouth but it is too late...the words are out. Niall is looking at Harry with nothing but shock. Harry is terrified, why has time stopped, why is Niall still staring at him...should he leave. <br/>	Niall bursts into laughter and barely gets out his words, “I don’t think that's how it works, man.” Niall is still laughing but Harry finally starts to breathe. He definitely hadn’t taken a breath for at least 5 minutes after those words slipped out of his mouth. “I thought you would never admit that you liked him, damn.”</p><p>Or the one where Harry starts a band with Niall and Louis is the most beautiful person that Harry will never be able to talk to because he is too busy talking to himself!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. August

**Author's Note:**

> I have a coauthor, her name is Sofia. She is one of my students. We started this as a way to help Sofia with her writing and it turned out that she helped me with mine! We had way to much fun writing this so I hope you all like it. We did take a little creative license and wrote ourselves and some other students into the fic. Sorry, please don't hate us

Harry opens his third box of CDs and starts to alphabetize them by artist. He’s really pissed. His new step-dad tries too hard at everything, and he moved Harry, his sister, and his mum to the middle of fucking nowhere Arizona.

It’s his last year in high school, he should have been able to stay and finish his last year at home with his friends. Instead, he has to walk into a new school on the second day of classes knowing exactly no one.

_____

Harry empties every box in his room, looking for his other boot.

“Where is my other God damn boot?” He growls.

“I used it to put out the fire last night,” his sister Gemma snickers, sticking her head in his room.

Harry throws the one boot he has across the hall at her and mumbles, “All my other shoes haven’t arrived yet. I only have these and my sparkly boots-”

“Well who the hell only packs two pairs of boots while they are moving to Arizona?!”

“Shut the fuck up, Gemma!” he retorts with a pout forming on his face.

Harry shoves his feet into the sparkly boots and runs out the front door. Luckily, school is just around the corner.

_____

After sprinting the whole way to school, he finds the main office after meandering the whole campus. Plastering on his best dimple inducing smile, he approaches the old woman behind the large desk.

“M’ Harry Styles,” he starts, “M’ new here, this is my first day.”

“Oh, hello dear, I’m the secretary of this school, Veronica. What a lovely accent you have,” she replies as she begins to rummage through the files that have neatly been organized alphabetically. She reaches into the ‘S’ folder and finds his schedule handing it to him. “I have your schedule right here.”

Harry takes the schedule and begins to analyze it. Calculus, Advanced Physics, History, P.E.

“P.E?” He asks, “I have P.E today? I don’t have any gym clothes.” He gestures down to his black skinny jeans, loose white t-shirt, and of course, sparkly boots.

“It’s okay,” another, younger female’s voice says behind him. “Coach will find you something to wear.” He turns around to reveal a girl with a loose mop of long ombré wavy hair, dark chocolate eyes, and a refreshing smile.

Veronica quickly adds, “Oh! Harry, this is Margarita, she’ll show you to your first class.”

“Thank you ma’am," Harry replies.

“Well, we should go now, Harry- That’s your name right?” Harry quickly nods. “Oh, Okay! The first bell already rang and we don’t want to be late!” Margarita races her words as she gently grabs him by the arm and begins walking towards the exit of the office.

She turns around and says, “Bye Veronica!”

“Bye, loves. Have a nice day!”

As they walk out into the quad, Margarita immediately starts asking questions.

“So, where are you from?”

“England,” Harry replies shyly.

“I can tell that you’re from England from your accent, but where in England? I love England… Well, I’ve never been there but I would love to go.”

“Um, Cheshire, a little town called Holmes Chapel actually.”

“Well, then why did you move to the middle of Arizona?” She asks attempting to make eye contact with Harry.

“My mum got re-married and my step-father moved us all to America because he owns a business in town.”

“Oh, okay. So do you like it here in Arizona?” she asks.

What is this 20 questions? Harry asks himself before giving in, “It’s bloody hot here. My feet are sweating like a whore in church and it isn’t even 10 in the morning yet,” he moans.

“Maybe it’s because of those sparkly boots you have on,” Margarita giggles.

Harry blushes as they arrive to the classroom.

“Here we are! See you later!” Margarita says as she skips down the hallway with her hair bouncing behind her.

Harry spends the next three periods introducing himself at least fifty times.  When the bell rings for 3rd period to end, Harry’s heart drops when he realizes that he has P.E next. With slumped shoulders, he slowly makes his way to the P.E coach’s office.

“M’Harry,” he says. “M’ new and I don’t have any gym clothes. The office said that you could help me out?”

“Hey Harry, I’m Coach Paul. Don’t worry I’ll find you something to wear.”

Coach Paul searches his cluttered office until he comes across a pair of shorts that will be way too short on the tall boy, and a t-shirt with the school's name on it.

“Here ya go.” Coach Paul tosses him the clothes. “You can borrow these for today but there is no way I will be able to find something for those clown feet,” he says, smiling as he points to Harry’s feet, but Harry blushes and drops his head in shame.

“But I can’t run in my boots, they’ll be ruined," he starts.

“Well you can either run with the boots or without ‘em. Today is the mile and I need a time for everyone,” Coach explains as he heads for the door.

Harry groans as he makes his way to the locker room to get changed with all the other boys. He feels really awkward around all these strangers that are running around in only their underwear, but decides to try and ignore them since they don’t take note of his presence inside the musty room.

After he has sagged the shorts low on his hips and pulled the shirt over his head, Harry decides to run barefoot. He angrily shoves his clothes and boots into the locker he was given to put his things in. As he makes his way outside, he hears Coach Paul announce that two classes will be combined for the mile today because the P.E teacher from the other class is absent. He notices that all the students begin to walk towards the starting line, so he follows along until they reach the beginning of the track. He can feel judgemental eyes stare at his bare feet and his funny looking shorts, but when the coach blows his whistle everyone begins to move. Relieved that the attention is finally off of him and on the track ahead, Harry begins with a slow jog; the heat overwhelming him immediately.

After his first lap, he is exhausted and drenched in sweat. He usually enjoys running, but when it’s cool, not 95 degrees. Harry’s curls begin to fall into his eyes, and doesn’t notice when a water bottle is carelessly thrown onto the track. His feet get tangled as he stumbles forward and braces himself with his hands until he falls flat on the track. Shit! he says to himself. A few guys run past him, smirking and laughing. Harry’s cheek begins to burn on the hot asphalt as he hears someone bend down next to him.

“Hey man, you okay? Did you hurt anything?”

           Harry groans debating whether or not to say yes, so he could get out of the rest of class. “I’m ok, I guess,” he finally mutters.

“Good. Woah, where are your shoes, bro?”  the attractive young man with deep caramel eyes asks.

“Um, I’m new and all my stuff is still in boxes in a moving truck.” Harry looks up at the boy.

“That sucks. I’m Liam by the way. Wanna run the rest together? There are only like 5 minutes left to finish and if we don’t catch up, coach will make us run again.”

Harry gets up with Liam’s help and introduces himself. The boys run together for the rest of the period, talking the whole time.

_____

After P.E, Harry has a free period. Thank God. He wanders around school for a while, fruitlessly trying to find a cool and quiet place to study. Finally, he finds the door to the outdoor quad and drags himself back into the unrelenting heat. Finding shade under a tree, Harry pulls out his calculus book and begins on his homework. Harry silently works for 20 minutes before he hears a guitar begin to play. He doesn’t even look around to see where it is coming from - he doesn’t want to make eye contact with anyone else today. After a few bars he recognizes the song as ‘So Sick’ and begins to sing along quietly.

Harry’s head is down as he sings along and does his homework. The music suddenly stops and Harry shrugs in disappointment. It was the best part of his day so far, he should have known that it wouldn’t continue. As he works on a particularly difficult problem, a shadow covers his book.

“Hey man, you got a great voice, it's really low and raspy...do you smoke?”

Harry looks up from his book to see the blonde tipped hair attached to the boy holding a guitar. He's staring at him with a huge smile, a smile that could rival Harry’s.

“Uhmm, uhh no?” Harry questions but realizes it sounds strange, so he corrects himself, “No. I don’t. Well, sometimes, but rarely.”

“Oh, ok. Well dude, you really do have an incredible voice!” admits the stranger standing near him.

“Thanks mate. “M/I’m Harry, and you are?”

“Niall… Niall Horan,” he proudly exclaims, displaying his award-winning smile with clear braces along his white teeth.

As Niall reaches out to shake Harry’s hand, he sees that everyone is waving and shouting to Niall. Niall must be a pretty popular kid then, Harry thinks. His thoughts are interrupted when Niall asks, “Hey man we only have 20 minutes left till next period, wanna jam out some more?”

“Sure.” Harry happily replies.  

The boys cover a few more songs before the bell rings. Niall picks up his backpack and throws his guitar over his shoulder. He turns back towards Harry, “Hey man, I have woodshop next, what class do you have?”

“Um let me check my schedule,” Harry takes out his class schedule and looks down to last period. “Oh cool, I have woodshop too.”

“Sick man! Let's go together. I keep trying to saw my finger off, having you on my side will be a good thing.” Niall winks, as he drags Harry by the arm.

Niall and Harry spend the entire woodshop class talking and joking around. Niall pretends to cut off his finger and Harry pretends to faint, making the whole class laugh. The boys talk during class even after their teacher tells them multiple times to quiet down. Harry has a smile plastered on his face the rest of the day. Maybe this new school won't be so bad, at least now he has Niall. When class is dismissed, the boys leave the room and Harry turns to walk home. He turns his head when he hears Niall call his name.  

“Hey Harry! Wanna walk with me to the store? I wanna buy some chips before they close.”

“Ya sure!” he replies, hoping he doesn’t sound  too eager.

Niall and Harry start to walk down the street and Niall asks Harry questions about England. When that conversation dies down, Harry starts asking Niall about himself and what there is to do in the area. Niall shares a few funny stories about himself and his friends till the conversation naturally leads to  what each boy did over the summer.  

“Spent the summer in Ireland. My whole family lives there and I missed them like hell.” Niall turns a corner and saunters into the store. He reaches for a bag of chips on the shelf and throws them at Harry. With the luck of the Irish that is apparently contagious, Harry catches the bag and looks at him puzzled.

“I thought we were getting chips?” Harry asks.

“Uh, yeah,” Niall looks confused. “These Sriracha chips are the best. They are still new and not all stores carry them. I mean you can get the plain Lays if you want, but frankly I think those are a bit boring. The Sriracha ones leave your fingers a super cool red color.”

“I think this is one of those weird American things,” Harry starts. “At home, or I guess in England, chips are cut up potatoes that you dip in ketchup, like you know, you have with fish or with a burger. And these,” Harry continues, holding the bag up, “are called crisps, because they are crispy.”

Niall lets out a full belly laugh, grabbing his stomach as he bends over cracking up. “You’re talking about fries dude, that’s hilarious. We call those french fries, because they are fried and probably from France or something,” he says in a high British accent, obviously mocking Harry. “Fuck! It’s going to be hilarious being friends with you. You’re probably going to say ‘I have to go to the loo’ at some point, and I am going to piss myself.”

Harry blushes but punches Niall jokingly on the arm. Suddenly, Harry freezes, hoping that the playful act was fine. Before he can apologize, Niall has Harry in a full headlock and is rubbing his knuckles across Harry’s hair while laughing even louder. Harry tries to squirm away but can’t get his head out from underneath Niall’s tight grip. Damn, he’s a strong little one! He does the only thing he can think of - poking his fingers into Niall’s ribs hoping to tickle himself free.

It works in a second, and Niall flails away, grabbing his sides and laughing so hard he can’t breathe. Harry doesn’t think he has had this much fun or smiled this much since his mum told him they were moving. Before Harry gets too emotional, he feels Niall’s arm wrap around his shoulders.

“Want to come over for dinner?” Niall asks. “It won't be for a while but we can sing for a bit. I have a couple guitars in my room and a drum set. I also just restrung my bass. I don’t know if you play anything, but we can just hang out and shit.”

“That would be awesome!” Harry nearly yells from happiness. After all, he just made a new friend that he shares so many interests with. “I really don’t want to go home. I still have so much unpacking to do and if I go home, my mum will make me help her unpack all the other rooms. I’m just not ready for all that. Thanks.” He finishes with a huge smile stuck to his face. Harry is sure that his smile can be seen from space right now. Why is Niall being so nice? Harry could tell throughout the day that Niall is really popular and has a lot of friends, so he could hang out with anyone.

Harry had a lot of friends back home - he was quite the social butterfly. He would always make people laugh around him, and could be counted on to keep secrets, but he wasn’t sure how his personality was going to translate to a new school, a new country, and new people.

The two boys exchange stories and eat the bag of chips/crisps the whole way to Niall’s house, neither of them missing a beat to tell a joke or make fun of the other. Harry feels his body relax as they get further away from school.

“This is me,” Niall says hip checking Harry into a little white fence. Harry, unprepared for the contact,flips over the fence and lands face down on the dry grass. Harry is getting really used to this by now. “Holy shit man,” Niall tries to say through his laughter and he pushes himself through the fence. He extends his hand to Harry but Harry has a better idea. With his long leg, he kicks at the back of his friend’s knee and Niall goes down instantly. Both boys are laughing uncontrollably.

“Race you to the door!” Niall yells as he jumps up and runs towards the green front door. Harry stumbles forward as he tries to get up but falls over again and just decides to crawl to the door instead. Upon entering the house, Harry looks around to see family photos hung up everywhere, the whole family with the same giant smile as his friend.

“Lets go to the basement, my room is down there and we can jam for awhile before my mom gets home for dinner.” Harry follows Niall as he walks through the kitchen and laughs as Niall grabs more snacks on the way to the basement.

“Aren’t we eating dinner soon?” Harry asks, “And didn’t we just eat a bag of crisps?”

“What can I say, I am a growing boy,” Niall mumbles through a mouth full of cookies.

Once in Niall’s basement, Harry feels like a kid in a candy store.. There’s a huge tv with wall mounted speakers, a waist high stack of video games, and multiple shelves filled with CD’s and vinyl. As he circles the room, he counts 5 guitars, all different colors and styles. Harry walks straight to the bass guitar in the corner and picks it up.

“You play?” asks Niall.

“Yeah, a little,” Harry says while strumming the strings.

“Hey thats good! Keep playing.” Niall says while grabbing some drum sticks.

They quickly find a rhythm. Niall switches between drums and one of his many guitars while Harry sings, using his long fingers to pick at the bass guitar. It is easy and natural for the next three hours. The boys play some slow love ballads,Harry’s raspy voice creating a sense of urgency to everything he sings. They even pick up the tempo and play some faster rock songs. Niall practices his best falsetto to sing over Harry. Niall pretends to smash his guitar at the end of a particularly exciting Jimi Hendrix song.

“Niall, dinner’s ready!” a voice calls down the stairs.

“Oh thank God, I'm starving. I was about to eat your left arm if dinner didn’t happen soon.” Niall makes a grab at Harry’s arm and Harry knocks him away with the bass still hanging off his shoulder.  “Lets go,” Niall laughs as he shucks off his own guitar and starts upstairs.

Niall’s family is unbelievably nice and friendly. Harry has a hard time finishing all his food because he is constantly laughing at what is happening at dinner. He can now see why Niall is the way he is. The family asks a little about Harry’s move but mostly treats Harry like they have known him forever instead of exactly 30 minutes.

“You boys want some ice cream?” Niall’s dad asks, already pulling out a tub.

Harry smiles as Niall walks towards the living room. Niall turns to Harry and whispers, “I think they like you. They never let me have ice cream after dinner.”

Niall’s dad comes up behind the boys and laughs into their ear, “You’re right, we don’t, and yes, we do like Harry, we might trade you in, Niall.”

_____

Harry and Niall spend the rest of the week hanging out at school and going to Niall’s house afterwards. Niall is quickly becoming one of Harry’s favorite people in the world.

Friday comes along. The boys throw their leftover lunch scraps at each other as they talk about what antics they are going to get into during woodshop. Niall asks Harry if he plans on going to the tailgate that night for the first football game of the season.

“The what?” Harry asks

“Jesus, man, the tailgate,” Niall starts. “It's like this big party that happens in the parking lot of school before the game. People bring grills and make burgers. The kids with trucks put couches or speakers in the back, it’s is like a huge party. Eventually someone brings alcohol. You gotta come man. It is loads of fun!”

“Do we then watch the football game?" Harry asks.

Niall laughs, “I mean if you want we can, but really the first game is just an excuse to have a party. Our football team is pretty shit. We have a good soccer team, but a tailgate before a soccer game just doesn’t have the same ring to it as before a football game,” he explains.

Harry agrees to go to the tailgate but says that he has to go home before it so he can see his mom. She has been getting pretty upset that he hasn’t been home until 9:30 pm every night.

_____

When they arrive to the parking lot at school, people immediately start greeting Niall, and introduce themselves to his new friend. As Niall gives out ‘bro hugs’ to guys Harry’s never seen at school, he notices a familiar face approaching them. The quiff on his head, those caramel eyes… Damn it! What the fuck is his name again?! L-Leeroy? L-L-L-... Harry’s thoughts are interrupted when Niall shouts, “Hey Liam! What’s up man?”  

Harry notices the very intricate hand shake the boys do as Liam looks at him with a sense of recognition.

“Hey man,” Liam says kindly as he makes eye contact with Harry. “I am glad to see that you have found your way around school. Niall is a good guy for that.” He looks at Harry’s feet before he says, “I’m also glad you have shoes on this time.”

“Ha, thanks again for helping me out the other day. It was rough ,” Harry smiles

_____

The boys hang out with Liam for the next couple of hours, sharing stories and stuffing their faces with hamburgers and 'chips'.

“Niall its your turn on the table, grab a partner!” A voice comes from a crowd of people between two parked trucks.

“Shit yeah,” Niall starts to reply. “Harry you gotta be my partner! How are your beer pong skills?

“My what skills?”

“Beer pong? Can you throw a ping pong ball in a cup?”

Three games of beer pong later, Harry is feeling really happy. Niall has some how gotten louder and more friendly as the games went on. The boys make a good team. They win three games in a row.

Harry is used to drinking, since he could drink back home, but is quick to realize that drinking here is supposed to be a secret. People are carrying around gatorade bottles full of alcohol.

Harry doesn’t notice when Niall grabs a guitar and jumps on the back of Liam’s truck. He starts strumming the opening chords to “Kids in America.”

“Get up here Harry!” Niall yells from the top of the truck. “You gotta sing with me! Everyone cheer for Harry so he gets his British ass up here.”

Harry squeals as a group of boys lift him up and place him on the bed of the truck.

Niall starts playing again and this time Harry jumps in and starts singing along. Once the song ends, everyone is yelling and clapping. Niall puts his arm around Harry’s shoulder, “We should start a band. What do you think about it?”

“That sounds cool, but what should we call it? I’m bad at naming things,” Harry chuckles.

“Uh, something cool! How about like- Uh… Narry! we should call it Narry!”

“Narry? What does Narry mean?” Harry asks.

“Niall and Harry! Duh,” Niall gestures between the two of them. “Its our two names combined.”

Harry laughs, “What do you want to do next, get best mate necklaces?”

 

 


	2. September

It’s been a month since Niall made that joke about starting a band; since then, ‘Narry’ has been inseperable. The boys spend everyday after school in Niall’s basement practicing different covers. Every now and then they have dinner at Harry’s house with his family. Niall insists on Fajita night a lot, it’s his favorite. Harry’s family quickly takes the same liking to Niall as Harry did.

On Tuesday during passing period, Harry is humming the melody to a song he just wrote when he is rudely interrupted by someone yelling his name and jumping on his back. Niall usually wouldn’t have knocked him down, but his backpack adds another 30 pounds. Both boys tumble to the ground and Harry lets out a little squeal that is masked by the hysterical laughter escaping from Niall’s full mouth. Niall spits the chips he was eating all over Harry’s hair and laughs even harder. When they settle down and pick themselves up from the floor, Niall silently shoves a piece of bright green paper in Harry’s hand and starts jumping up and down yelling unintelligible words. Harry looks at the piece of paper and finally understands why Niall is freaking out. It’s a flyer for a battle of the bands competition coming to their area in a few months. Finally, Niall composes himself enough to say actual words.

“This is huge Haz!” Niall quickly picked up on Gemma’s nickname for Harry. “This big name radio station is having a battle of the bands competition! We have to enter! Look, first place is one thousand dollars, and a recording session in a professional recording booth thingie!” Niall yells. “We could totally win! With my amazing skills and vibrant personality, and your voice and English charm, we could do really well! Especially well if the judges are women,” Niall winks.

Harry blushes a little at that last line. As much as he loves Niall, Harry hasn’t really found the right time or place to tell his friend that he doesn’t necessarily crush on girls, especially as hard as Niall does. Niall constantly talks about all the girls he has a crush on, or the girls that have crushes on him. For the past week he hasn’t been able to stop talking about Sofia who’s his lab partner. So while Niall is talking about Sofia, Harry just keeps him busy by asking questions so that Niall won’t ask him anything. It isn’t like he would lie if Niall asked, but he isn’t ready to volunteer the information yet. He isn’t sure how Niall or anyone else at his new school would take it if they knew that Harry prefered boys to girls.

Before his mind can wander too far, Harry stops Niall mid yell, “We will need more than just the two of us. We are good, don’t get me wrong, but we arent the White Stripes.”

“We will hold auditions for the rest of  the band then. I know there are a few people in the school who could be really good. “ Niall grabs Harry and starts pulling him.

“Where are we going?”

“To the computer lab obviously, we need to make flyers for auditions! “

…

         Harry isn’t too sure how this whole audition thing is going to work out. He has seen that a few of the flyers have been taken, but that doesn’t mean anything. Someone could have used it to spit out their gum, or write a note, or just torn it down because they hated the bright pink paper that Niall insisted on using.

NIall convinced the band teacher to let him and Harry use his classroom after school for auditions, so now the boys sitin the room behind a table waiting for people to show up. It has been 10 minutes and no one has showed.

“I don’t think anyone is coming Niall.”

“Oh calm down, don’t get your panties in a twist," Niall says in his best British accent. "People are just late. That's normal.” He turns towards the door as Harry hears a voice getting closer. “See, I hear someone now.”

“Zayn! Get your ass in there,” a happy voice yells through the door.

At that moment, a boy is pushed through the band room door by a familiar face.

“Oh hi, Harry” she says. "I didn’t know you were starting a band, that’s really cool. This is Zayn, he is an amazing singer. He wants to join your band. Don’t you Zayn?” the girl looks back at the boy with jet black hair and a single blond streak.

“Hi, Margarita,” Harry and Niall say in unison. “Are you sure he wants to audition?” Niall asks. “He doesn't look too enthused.”

“Yes, he wants to audition. I will leave now so you can get to it.” Margarita starts to leave the room with her hair swishing behind her just as it had done on Harry’s first day of school. Once she gets to the door, she suddenly turns around. “Make sure he shows you his falsetto and high notes, they will blow your mind!” She gives a happy wave and bounces out the door again.

“Hi,” Niall starts. “Zayn right?” The boy nods. “Right, well what are you doing to do for us? I heard that you sing, but do you do anything else?”

“You mean the triangle isn’t enough?” Zayn looks incredibly offended.

Harry burst out laughing before he can even stop himself. Luckily, Zayn starts laughing also, which just comes out of nowhere but immediately relaxes Harry. Niall is staring at both of the boys trying to figure out what just happened when Zayn starts again. “Sorry, yea I guess I could play the triangle but I also can play around on a guitar. I am a better singer though.”

“Well, lets hear it mate.” Harry nods at a guitar sitting next to Zayn.

          Zayn closes his eyes, Harry notices how nervous he looks. When he opens his eyes, Harry gives him an encouraging smile. When he starts singing Niall and Harry are mesmerized. His voice is lusciously dramatic and his high notes sound like they could shatter the windows around them. The boys are speechless when he finishes. Harry turns his head to see that Niall is wearing the largest smile he has ever seen.

“That was amazing Zayn! You’re definitely in. What do ya think Haz?”

“Yeah, man. You’re in if you really want.”

“Wow thanks guys. I do want to. When are we going to practice?”

"Tomorrow of course,” Niall says as if it is the most obvious answer in the world. “Leave us your number and I'll hit you up with practice times for the week.”

“Cool,” Zayn says as he walk out the room.

Niall turns to Harry with a giant grin on his face. “Well that was a good start. From what I've heard of that kid he's also a really cool artist and poet so he could, like, write some of the songs and do the cover art for our album!”

“Getting a little ahead of yourself aren’t you Ni? We only have two guitarists and a bass player, that is hardly terms for an album cover.”

Just as Niall starts to say something back, Harry hears what sounds like rain tapping against a window. He glances up to find soccer cleats making their way through the band room door. But not just any soccer cleats, soccer cleats that are attached to a pair of perfectly tanned and toned legs. Harry’s mouth falls open as his eyes make their way up the boy’s body. His blue soccer shorts are rolled up high, showing off the amazing thighs of the beauty standing in front of him. The boy turns around to set down his gym bag and Harry audibly gasps. His eyes haven't traveled past the boys hips when he suddenly hears the voice of an angel.

“I'm a thousand miles away tonight, and girl you look so pretty, yes you do.” The boy’s voice is a perfect tenor, higher than Harry would have imagined.

“Time Square don’t shine as bright as you.” Harry harmonizes with the angel’s voice and suddenly feels the air leave his lungs as Niall hits him across the chest. Harry snaps out of it and realizes that he’s been singing along to the boy’s audition. He can feel himself turn bright red. When had the boy even started singing?

Harry tries to save himself. He smiles but continues to look at the the table. “Oops, sorry I got a little caught up in your voice, mate.” He still can’t make eye contact with the boy, but he does look up long enough to see a pair of giant blue eyes staring at him.

"Hi, sorry I'm late. I had a soccer game," the beautiful boy says as he gestures his hands up and down.

"Nah, it's fine. You're good. What's your name?" Niall asks.  

"I'm Louis."

"Well nice to meet ya Louis. I'm Niall and this is my buddy Harry."

"Niall, Harry." He nods.

Harry just sits there speechless. He's never seen someone so perfect. When Louis says his name his heart flutters and he swears that it can be heard across the room. After a minute, Harry remembers where he is.

"H-h-hey. I-I'm Harry," he stumbles. Shit, this is embarrassing, he thinks

"So am I in or not?" Louis asks.

"I think you're amazing. But do you play any instruments?" Niall asks.

"I can play the piano. And I know how to record music," explains Louis.

"That's great. Having a keyboard player would be awesome," Niall says.

Harry nods his head in agreement, unable to speak without stuttering or shaking. Why do I feel like this? he questions himself. His thoughts are interrupted when Niall repeats his name.

"Haz, Haz. What do ya think?"

"Umm umm yeah. He's in." Harry doesn't realize how fast he's talking.

"What? Talk slower."

"Yeah, he's in," he repeats.

"It's settled. You're in, Louis. Our first rehearsal is tomorrow after school 'round 4:30."

"Great thanks!  But just so you know, I have practice till 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and games every Saturday morning."

"That's ok. We'll work something out."

"Cool. So I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," confirms Niall.

As Louis turns around to leave, Harry can finally catch his breath. But it is soon swept away when Louis stops walking and looks at Harry.

"Hey Harry, aren't you the guy who was running with no shoes and fell a few weeks ago?" asks Louis.

Harry can feel his cheeks flush.

"Umm yeah that was me. It was my first day and I didn’t have any clothes and Coach Paul couldn't find any shoes for me," Harry starts babbling, giving more information than he intended to.

"Oh, sorry about that. I was kinda a jerkface for not helping you up."

"Jerkface?"

"Yeah. Anyway, see you guys tomorrow."

Louis walks out of the band room. Niall turns to Harry. “What the fuck? Did you just have an aneurism or something? Your eyes are huge right now, you look like you saw a ghost!”

“Yeah, no, he was good. We should ask him to join the band.” Harry has no idea what Niall said, he was too busy following Louis out this door with his eyes, but he feels pretty safe with his answer. God, what just happened? Who was that boy and where can Harry get one?

“Um, yea, well great, since we already told him he was part of the band. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Harry doesn’t think he could be any more embarrassed, but right as he starts to say Louis’ name to Niall, there is a knock at the door. Louis walks back in. “I forgot my bag,” he says with a smile directed at Harry. Harry swears it was directed at him… Which, it turns out, makes him turn redder and drop the water bottle he had in his hand. The water spills all over Harry’s pants.

“Shit,” Harry mumbles barely loud enough for anyone to hear.

Harry can hear Louis giggling as he walks out of the room again. Is he actually fucking giggling? Harry isn’t sure whether to be upset or to start writing wedding vows now. He looks down at his pants. The water is dripping down to his crotch and it looks like he’s wet himself. Niall gasps and lets out a boisterous laugh. Now Harry’s face is flushed red, his pants are dripping with water, and Louis thinks he’s clumsy and awkward. Niall has finally calmed himself down enough to speak.

“Haz, what's wrong with you today?” he says between giggles. “Your cheeks are red, you're hands are shaking, and you're- you're pants are freaking dripping!” Niall yells as he bursts out laughing again.

“Its not funny Niall! I just embarrassed myself in front of Louis!” Harry yells.

“So, whats the big deal?”

“Because he’s-” Harry stops himself, deciding whether or not to tell Niall. He decides against it. “It’s because he’s really popular and I’m still the new kid and I just don’t like to be made fun of,” he says with a quiet yet convincing voice.

“Aaww. Little baby Haz doesn't want to be made fun of by the popular boy!” Niall says in a baby voice. He runs over to Harry and hugs him like an infant. “Its ok baby boy, I’ll scare away the mean people.”

“Get off of me,” Harry says as he pushes Niall off of him. “I'm ok, really”

“Ok, whatever. Let’s go my my place so we can work out a schedule,” Niall says as he picks up his bag.

“Wait! I can't go out there, my jeans are still dripping and there’s still people outside,” exclaims Harry.

“Well, I’m gonna go home. You can stay here ‘til your pants dry.”

Niall saunters out the room before Harry can protest. Great, now I’m here alone while my fucking pants dry, he thinks to himself. Harry sighs and walks over to the piano. He sits on the old wooden stool and pulls out his journal where he keeps his songs. He places his hands on the keys and tries to play, but he can't. His mind is full of thoughts about Louis. The way his short and toned legs stride across the room, his voice has a chocolate sweet sensation and it cracks in just the right places. Harry tries really hard to focus on writing but his mind keeps bouncing back to Louis. He begins to play anyway, his hands move swiftly up and down the piano, finding a rhythm. He gets lost in in the music and doesn't notice the sunlight pouring into the room as someone opens the door. He finishes his piece and gathers his journal. He turns around when he hears a soft clapping behind him.  

“Wow, man. That’s amazing, what is it?” Harry jerks his head around and sees Louis standing there, his eyes wide open in awe.

“Did you write that?” he asks

“Um, no, I was just playing,” Harry mumbles.

“Really?” Louis says shocked. “It just seemed rehearsed, like you've been playing the same thing thing for a while.”

“Thanks. Um, it wasn't as good as you, though. You were really amazing.” At this point Harry realizes he has been staring into Louis eyes without blinking for the entire conversation. He quickly averts his eyes and stares at the piano for a second.

“Can I play with you?” Louis asks as he sits down next to Harry. The bench is small and Harry feels Louis’ warm leg against his own. He can feel the heat radiating off of the body next to him. He smells sweet; a mixture of sweat, grass, mint, and lingering cologne. Harry takes a deep breathe just to regain composure, and maybe because he likes the smell that has encompassed him. Suddenly Harry feels Louis arm graze over him as he is placing his hands on the keys. “Just start playing what you were playing before, I”ll jump in on the lower octave.”

Doing as he told, Harry gently places his long fingers back on the keys and starts to play. Within seconds Louis fingers are dancing over the lower keys. Harry feels goosebumps pop up on his arm and fights the urge to stop playing. As their fingers move together, Harry becomes more relaxed. Without realizing it, Harry starts humming a tune that he makes up on the spot. Without missing a beat, Louis adds his voice to the mix. Harmonizing a sweet melody, Harry and Louis are sitting so close that when Louis’ phone rings in his pocket it both scares and tickles Harry. The sudden vibrations seem to startle Louis; he suddenly shifts in his seat, and Harry falls off the bench with a thud.

Louis’ laughter echoes through the room and his whole face lights up as he looks down at Harry and puts his hand on his knee. Harry’s heart skips a beat and he has to force himself to exhale.

Louis flips his hand over and offers it to Harry. “Get up, weirdo. You sure like to spend a lot of time laying on the floor, don’t you?” Louis smile grows even bigger and the line of his jaw and perfectly carved cheek bones become more prominent. Harry places his hand in Louis’, hoping to God that it isn’t too sweaty. Louis yanks on Harry’s arm, harder than Harry had expected. His knees bang into the piano bench but before he falls again, Louis grabs him around the waist and pulls him back to the bench.

Louis hands are still around Harry’s waist and the boys faces are so close, Harry can smell the mint gum that Louis has been chewing. Just as Harry realizes how long they have been sitting like that, Louis clears his throat.

“Ha, you are really clumsy aren’t you? It must be your long giraffe legs…” Louis smiles but then looks down at his phone as it starts to vibrate again. Harry sneaks a glance and sees that the phone is blinking with a girls face on the screen with the name Lindsay <3<3 on it. “Um yea, so I have to go. I just forgot to leave my phone number earlier.” Louis grabs Harry’s phone that is sitting on the piano and starts to type in his number. Louis stands up and gives back Harry’s phone. “Later.”

 Louis is out the door before Harry can even say anything. He looks down at his phone and notices his new contact: Lou 345-584-3399. A giddy smile creeps across his face. I have his number, he says in his head. Harry notices the time at the top of his screen. He didn't realize how long he had been staring his phone, and remembers that he has to meet Niall. Harry gathers the last of his things and walks out of the room, heels bouncing with every step.

\-----

When Harry arrives at Niall’s house, he walks into the kitchen to find Niall frantically trying to put out a flame on the stove. His face is moist with sweat and steam, and he’s wearing a flower printed apron with lace on the edges.

“What the hell are you doing?” Harry asks before bursting into giggles.

“It’s not funny, man! I almost forgot that Sofia was coming over to work on our lab write up. I’m not sure if it’s a date or not, but I wanna be ready just in case.”

“Ok, but what are you trying to make?”

“Umm, pasta?”

“You sound like you're asking a question.”

“Shut up Harry! I don’t have time for smart comments!”

“Okay, okay, mate, calm down. I’ll help you cook, but first go take a shower, because you smell like the locker room.”

“You know how to cook?”

“Yes, I know how to cook. I’ll clean up this mess and start the sauce while you go take a shower and take off that ridiculous apron,” Harry says, before he starts to laugh again and plays with the lace on the neckline of the apron.

“Urgh, ok. Just don't burn down the house.”

“Go get ready Niall!”

Harry spends the next hour and a half cooking. Niall comes in while Harry tears lettuce for salad. He struts in wearing a white polo, blue shorts, and sky blue boat shoes. His hair is meticulously styled and he smells very strongly of Calvin Klein for Men.

“You look like you just came from boating,” Harry giggles.

“Yeah, yeah, just keep cooking. Sofia just texted me saying she’ll be here in like 30 minutes.”

Harry continues to cook. Niall puts the apron back on so  he does not dirty his shirt and Harry makes fun of him the entire time. He even snaps a few pictures when he’s not looking. Finally, the boys have cooked a presentable meal. Niall runs to his room to give his hair one last check. Harry is in the dining room setting up the table when he hears a small knock on the door. He makes sure to be in front of the door before opening it to yell,

“Niiaalll! Your date’s here!!!!” He hears him running up the stairs.

“Don’t open it! Don’t open it!” he yells frantically.

Harry ignores him and throws the door wide open. Sofia stands there with wavy dark chocolate hair, cascading past her shoulders. She is slim and her skinny jeans make her legs look miles long. He is greeted with a bright smile. “Hi, I’m Sofia, I’m here to work with Niall?” She gestures towards her backpack.

“Oh yea, come on in, m’Harry. Niall is upstairs fixing his ha…” Niall jumps off the last step and barrels into Harry.

“Hi Sofia, ignore Harry. They have a weird sense of humor in England that makes them all assholes.” Niall turns to Harry and gives him a deathly glare.

“Hey Harry,” Sofia smiles. “Niall, you ready to study?”

“Not really but, um so Sofia. I uh- I- I didn’t know if you were hungry so I- uh made us dinner.” Harry smiles listening to Niall stutter.

“Actually,” he interrupts, “I made dinner while Niall was in his room playing dress up," Harry says matter of factly.

“Shut up Haz!” Niall says.

“You should have seen him, Sofia. He came out at least 5 times asking me which shirt matched his new shoes,” Harry says while laughing. Sofia laughs with him, displaying deep dimples similar to Harry’s.

“Don’t listen to him. Let’s go.” Niall pushes Harry out of his way and welcomes her in.

“Later ‘Haz’!” Sofia giggles as she and Niall make their way to the living room. Harry rushes to the kitchen to serve their food. He comes out to the dining room and places their dinner on the table.

“Harry, what are you doing?!” Niall harshly whispers.

“Well, I’m just helping my best mate with his date.” Harry makes sure Sofia can hear him in the next room.

“Go to the basement and start planning for the band. Or go and… text Louis! Yeah,  you got his number right, congratulate him, he won his soccer game and I heard that he scored the winning goal.”

“Okay…, but I'll be back to check on you two kids!” Harry says in a motherly voice.

Harry makes his way to the basement and jumps onto Niall's bed. He pulls out his phone and scrolls to ‘Lou’. Its takes him about 5 minutes just to think about what to say, and another 2 minutes to find the perfect emoji. He comes up with

Hey, heard you won your soccer game today. congrats.

-H :)

He feels relieved when he presses send. But then as the seconds pass, he starts to panic. What did I just do? He is going to think I am stalking him. He isn’t going to respond and it is going to be awkward tomorrow. STOP STOP.

In order to curb his panic, Harry starts a list of possible songs for the boys to sing together. He has a good mix of genres, tempos and artists. And no, they are not all love songs, even if his mind is one big sappy love song right now.

After about 10 minutes, his phone vibrates in his pocket. Harry’s heart jumps into his throat. He debates avoiding his phone but can’t last more than a few seconds. He takes it out quickly and his heartbeat accelerates when he sees Lou flashing across the screen.

Thanks man! ;-)

Harry stares at the text. It is only two words, but he spends time on every single letter making sure he doesn’t miss anything. After the exclamation point Harry’s eyes stop on the emoji. Is that a winky face? What does a winky face mean? Holy crap...As Harry starts to hyperventilate over a semi-colon, his phone vibrates in his hand again with Lou popping up on screen. His heart drops all the way from his throat to his stomach. He slowly slides his finger to unlock the message.

Hey so, are you free tomorrow before band practice?

Harry could vomit right here and right now. Are you free the rest of your life? Is that an appropriate response?

Yeah, sure. Why?

A few minutes pass by, when Harry feels the phone buzz beside him. He jumps a little but grabs the phone.

I was going to go look at new keyboards tomorrow, I thought you could help me.

My help? He wants my help? He could have asked anyone, but he wants my help.

Yeah sure. Meet me by the field after school.

It feels like hours until he gets a response.

Great. See you later ;)

Later.

Harry falls back in the bed, trying to remember the last 10 minutes. He and Louis are going to hangout tomorrow. Just the two of them. No one else. He feels excited, nervous, and terrified at the same time. What if I embarrass myself, or- or what if Louis hates me? Harry makes a list of the worst possible things that could happen. He sits there for 15 minutes, thinking about tomorrow. Then he jumps up, realizing that he has to plan out what he’s going to wear. He dashes up the stairs and casually walks towards the living room to hear Niall strumming a guitar while he and Sofia sing a song about houses made out of legos. He waits for them to finish before walking in.

"Well, I hate to leave, but I must go home."

"Ok. I'll text you later." Niall waves him off without even a glance in his direction, eyes focused on Sofia.

"Later, Harry. Dinner was delicious, by the way," Sofia says, turning toward Harry.

"I helped too, you know!" Niall whines.

"I know you did Niall, but I also know that Harry did most of the work, so I'm thanking him. See you later, Harry," Sofia says, then turns back to Niall. She steals the guitar out of his hands and starts playing with the strings.

Harry walks out without another word. He jogs home, already thinking about what to wear. When he walks through the door, he's panting. He tries to avoid his mum but she catches him before he can close his door.

"Harry, when did you get home?" she chirps.

"Just now. I've got a ton of homework to do, Mum. Can't talk. But I’ll be here for dinner."  

"Okay. I'll call you down in an hour," she says, then turns on her heel and walks down the hall.

Once in in his room, Harry digs through his closet, clothes flying in all directions. "Okay, so I can't try too hard or else he'll notice. But I don't want to look like I just woke up," he thinks out loud. His head jerks up when he hears Gemma yell,

"Harry, who the hell are you talking about and why are you stressing about what to wear?!"

"Shut up and mind your own business Gemma!" he snaps.

Harry had been too distracted to lock the door when he got to his room, and now Gemma strolls in without invitation.

"Get out Gem. I'm busy."

"No. Not until you tell me who you're meeting and why you're so freaked out about what they'll think about what you're going to wear,"

"It's no one. Just a friend."

"Name..."

"Umm, Louis."

"Louis? Louis Tomlinson?"

"I thinks so. He never told me his last name."

"Yeah, I know him. My friend’s little sister Lindsay and him are attached at the hip. Anyway, they hang out at her house a lot and I see him there. We talk sometimes. He's cool."

Harry’s heart sinks. He had forgotten all about the name and face that had popped up on Louis’ phone the other day. Why is he so stressed out about hanging out with Louis? The boy obviously has a girlfriend, and more importantly probably has absolutely zero interest in Harry... or guys in general.

"Yeah, I know, he's really popular and he's in the band Niall and I are putting together."

"So you're trying to impress him because you like him..."

"Yeah," Harry admits with a sigh, “but it doesn’t matter because he is obviously dating that Lindsay girl and likes girls and...” Harry trails off.

"Well, why didn't you just tell me that.” Gemma skips over the part about liking girls and begins to help her brother, who is all but panicking in his closet right now.  “You don't want to look like you've been planning what you're going to wear. But we don't want to be too casual." Gemma picks up a blue t-shirt. "See, this one makes your green eyes look brighter."

"Okay, but how the hell is that going to help me?"

"Urgh, just sit there and put on what I throw at you."

Harry and Gemma spend the next hour trying on different shirts; because of the weather, Gemma makes him wear a pair of denim shorts and a red t-shirt with a scooping neck line. “It is a thousand degrees. Plus, you have really nice legs H, you should show them off. Louis might like them,” Gemma winks.

….

Harry hardly sleeps the night before, too excited for his upcoming hang out time with Louis. He closes his eyes, but the image of Louis has apparently been tattooed to his eye lids. Whether it’shis perfectly toned legs, his amazingly long eyelashes framing those giant ocean blue eyes, or just the stray pieces of hair that fall into his face, Harry can’t get the piano playing soccer star out of his head. He finally manages to fall asleep at about 4 am, but his dreams are just as vivid as his eyelid tattoos.

...

“Hey Harry, I’m so glad you could hang out with me. Thanks for helping me out today,” Louis says with giant smile as he pulls Harry into a tight hug.

Harry’s heart flutters, and he is sure that Louis can feel his pulse in the embrace. “Of course,” Harry whispers into Louis’ hair. “I’d do anything for you, Lou.” He holds Louis a little tighter.

Louis slowly moves his hands down Harry’s back until they are gently resting on Harry’s hip. Harry can feel his body being pulled down into Louis, his hands are moving up to cup Louis’ face. The two boys’ faces are getting closer by the second, Harry can feel Louis’ hot breath and his hands begin to shake…

Harry wakes with a start, his heart beating a mile a minute, and covered in sweat. He can still feel the heat of Louis’ hands on his hips, but they were just a dream. He can’t believe just how real the whole thing seemed.

Harry turns to the clock on the nightstand. It reads 5:37. I have an hour till I have to get up. Harry covers himself in blankets and tries to recreate his dream, but he can’t. After a while, he gives up on the dream and tries to fall back asleep. Frustrated with himself he lays in bed for 20 more minutes before he pulls his tired body out of bed and drags himself to the bathroom for a long shower.

After Harry has washed away enough of his embarrassment, he towels himself off, throws on a pair of sweatpants, and trudges down the stairs into the kitchen. With nothing better to do at 6:15 am, he begins to grab the necessary ingredients for chocolate chip crumpets. Cooking always calms Harry. He can turn off his brain and focus on the task at hand - cracking an egg, whisking the flour, even cleaning up the counter once the food is in the oven.

As a child, he spent a lot of time in the kitchen with his Mum after his dad had left. Gemma never liked cooking much, so it was a time for Harry and his mom to bond. They became each other’s best friends in front of the stove, throwing flour at each other and laughing as Harry first learned how to bake a cake. Cooking reminded Harry of a simpler time; a time when he was home with just Gemma and his mum. A time when it didn’t matter where he would apply to college, or what he would wear on a potential date and, more importantly, whether he liked boy or girls.

It was in the kitchen last year when Harry finally told his mum. Her hands were covered in cake batter and Harry had tear streaks down his flour covered face. He had blabbered out the two words when his mum was deep into the mixing. He wasn’t sure if his mum had even heard him, but before he could say anything, she turned around with a proud smile and pulled Harry in. He was crying, but she was laughing. Through her laughter, Anne simply hugged her son closer and whispered into his hair, “I love you, and I will love anyone who you love and who loves you back.”

The next day, Anne took Harry to get his first tattoo. He had been thinking about getting one for a while, unsure what to get, until his mum said that she loved him just the same. There was one quote in particular that he really liked: “God, give me the grace to change the things I can, and accept the things I can’t.” When Harry found it, he thought that it was perfect and fit exactly how he felt. It couldn’t fit on his wrists the way he wanted it to, so he only put the two phases that meant the most to him on his forearms: “things I can” on one and “things I can’t” on the other. Harry loves these tattoos. He still subconsciously rubs his inner arms whenever he gets emotional.

Harry looks down as he is cleaning the mixing bowl and notices white fingerprints over the words “things I can’t.” He hadn’t even noticed that he was holding his arm.

….

The beginning of the day goes by in a flash. Harry can’t concentrate on anything all day - calculus is just a bunch of blurring numbers, physics,just an opportunity for Harry to think about Louis, and P.E consists of Harry trying really hard not to get too sweaty because he doesn’t want to smell or ruin the hair that he spent all morning perfecting. Harry decides that he will spend all of lunch outside trying to finish the song he has been writing. He gets about three more lines done when he is suddenly tackled from behind. The vibrant laughter gives Niall away immediately.

“Holy crap man, I have been looking for you all day!”

“Oh, yea, um,” Harry mumbles, trying to think of something to say.

“Whatever.” Niall rolls his eyes and continues. “So I have great news...I found us a drummer!”

“That is awesome Ni, who is it? Did they audition?”

“Well, not really, but we needed a drummer and my buddy Liam, you know the one with the truck, yea? Well, he plays and he said he would do it.”

          “That’s great! Is he coming to rehearsal tonight?”

“Yeah, he is going to walk over to my house with me and Zayn. Do you know if Louis knows where I live?”

“What? Louis, um, no, why would I know what he is doing?” Harry says in one breathe. He can feel his face getting red, his eyes shifty.

“Dude, chill. I was just asking because you were texting him about rehearsal. I can find him after school and let him know.”

“No, it is ok. I will text him and let him know where you live. We are meeting at 6 right?”

“Yep, you gonna come over beforehand?”

Harry pauses for a second, deciding whether to tell Niall what he is doing. But it would lead to too many questions. “Can’t, I’m busy.”

Niall looks puzzled. “Busy? What are you busy with?”

There is awkward silence as Harry tries to think of something to say. Luckily, just as Niall takes the silence to mean that Harry is hiding something, the bell rings to end lunch. Harry jumps up immediately, throws his notebook in his satchel and heads towards the door. “I have to go grab my stuff,” Harry calls behind him.

“You will tell me what you are hiding during woodshop or I shall I have to saw off your finger?” Niall laughs. Harry’s face drops as he walks away. What is he going to tell Niall? Harry shakes his head. Just tell him the truth, that Louis had asked him to help him pick out a keyboard. It wasn’t a date, Harry was just making this into a big deal. Just tell Niall about shopping and it will be fine.

Harry gets his things and heads to woodshop. On the way he practices telling NIall in his calmest tone about hanging out with Louis. However, once he gets to woodshop and he sees Niall eagerly waiting for him with a saw in his raised hand, he forgets how to be natural.

“So why are you busy? Is it a girl? I bet it is a girl. Is it that Margarita, she seemed to like you.” Niall’s smile can be seen across the room. He starts to poke Harry in the side until he gets an answer.

“No, Niall, it isn’t a girl. Speaking of  girls, how is Sofia, did you get a lot of studying done the other night?”

“Oh my God, I didn’t tell you about that.” Niall starts explaining, in great detail, every part of the night. How he and Sofia ate dinner and listened to music and talked about their shared interests in music. Niall had taught Sofia how to play “Lego House.” And how he kissed her cheek when she left, and she laughed at him.  But just as Harry calms down and thinks he has avoided telling Niall, Niall says,  “Dude, don’t change the subject. Tell me what the hell is going on.”

Harry hides his disappointment with a smile. “Jeeze Ni, I just wanted to know how your date went. I mean, I helped cook so I should at least get to know the details of the evening.” Harry’s side receives another jab. “Damn, fine, it’s nothing exciting. I’m just helping Louis pick out a new keyboard before rehearsal.”

“Ohh so you aren’t so afraid of big scary Louis anymore? Is he going to be your new bestie? I am going to be jealous if you leave me.” Niall’s pouty face is hysterical and Harry can’t help but laugh out loud, earning a stern look from the teacher

“Don’t worry Niall, you will always be my favorite.” Harry throws his arms around Niall and plants a big smacking kiss on his cheek.

“Gentlemen! Do you need to leave class?” Harry turns his head to see the entire class watching their interaction and just smiles.

“No sir, we are fine now. Thanks.”

Thirty minutes later the bell rings.  Harry had already packed his satchel 15 minutes earlier, so at the first sound of freedom, he runs out the door. “Don’t want to keep big scary Louis waiting, do you Haz?”

Harry doesn’t even stop to react to Niall, he just speed walks to his locker. He throws his book in his locker and heads straight for the field.

Holy crap. I am going to hang out with Louis now. What am I going to say? I’m going to embarrass myself. Ok, Harry don’t trip or anything. Just be natural and normal. Dont make this awkward.

Harry gets to the field and no one is there. His heart drops. What if Louis doesn’t show up? He doesn’t want to seem too eager, so he sits down in the middle of the field and pulls out his notebook. Harry has been working for about 5 minutes when he starts to get really nervous. He starts to close his notebook and put things away so he can leave when suddenly, from behind him...

“Hey Curly, sorry I’m late.”

 

 


	3. October

Harry looks up from his journal and sees Louis standing over him. His hair is swept to the side, looking messily perfect. He's wearing fire truck red pants and a white shirt striped with navy. From where Harry is sitting the sun is right behind Louis, making him look like he’s literally glowing.   
“I tried to call you but your phone was off.”  
“Its ok, I was just writing. Why didn’t you leave a message?” Harry says, smiling.   
“I don’t like the sound of my voice on tape.” Harry laughs at Louis without thinking. That might be the cutest thing he has ever heard.   
“Well let’s go! The shop is going to close soon,” Louis says.   
Harry shoves his journal into his bag and swings it over his shoulder as they make their way off campus. The boys chat the whole way: Louis asks Harry about England. Harry finds out that Louis’s family is also from England, but they moved to America after his dad left. Their conversation flows easily, and before they know it, they arrive at the music store. When they walk through the doors, Harry takes in the sight before him. Guitars and basses of every size, shape, and color line the walls. Drum sets and keyboards scatter the store. Louis heads straight for the keyboards and grabs Harry by the arm to pull him along.   
“Come on there, Curly, we don’t have a lot of time and I need your help.” Louis lets go of Harry’s arm, much to Harry’s dissatisfaction. The curly headed boy rubs the spot that Louis was holding, pretending that it hurt but really just chasing the heat that was just there.   
The two of them wander around the store for a while. Harry is looking at the bases when he hears Louis call his name. He gets a warm feeling in his stomach hearing his name roll off Louis' perfect lips. He walks over to the keyboards and finds Louis standing over a sleek black and white keyboard.   
"What do you think?" he asks.   
"I like it. You should try it out, make sure you do too," Harry suggests.   
"Ok, you wanna play with me?" Harry's heart stops and he’s not sure if he heard right.   
"What?"   
"Do you want to play with me?"  
"Um, yeah! Sure," Harry rushes over to Louis and stands on his right side.  
He places his hands on the keys and looks at Louis. He gives Harry a nod and Harry starts to play. He plays a sweet, soothing melody. After a minute, Louis begins to echo him in a lower tone. Louis then starts humming a melody over the duet that they are playing. The boys don’t realize a small group of people have gathered around them. When they finish, they look up at each other and smile.   
"I’m getting this one," Louis says, not breaking eye contact.   
Harry smiles and says, "Great."  
People around them clap softly and Harry can feel himself blush. In order to get away from the situation as fast as possible, he raises his hand for the closest salesperson. “Um, I think we are going to get this keyboard.”   
With the newly purchased keyboard stowed under Louis’ arm, the boys walk out of the store.  
“Well, that was quite embarrassing.” Harry keeps his eyes down and drags his feet along the sidewalk.  
“Embarrassing? Aren’t you the boy that just started a band and wants to perform in a Battle Of The Bands competition? That was just a warm up…” The fondness in Louis’ voice makes Harry’s heart melt a little. Louis gives Harry’s shoulder a little squeeze and smiles brighter than Harry has ever seen. “Let’s go get ice cream, my treat.”  
“No.” Harry stops and faces Louis. He sees the shorter boy’s smile falter "No, no, I didn’t mean that. I meant no, you don’t have to pay, but yes, let’s get ice cream. I really like ice cream,” Harry stutters. He wrings his hands together until his knuckles turn white.   
"Um, ok," says Louis.   
The boys walk down the street, talking and laughing, sharing stories about their families. Their arms keep bumping into each other, and Harry doesn’t think it is on accident. After a while, they arrive at a 50's style diner and sit at the black and white checkered counter.   
“Hey cuties, what can I get for you?” The woman behind the counter beams at them.  
“One giant mint chip shake, please, two straws.” Louis smiles back at the woman and hands her a ten dollar bill.  
Before Harry can argue, the woman takes the money and walks away. “They serve really big milkshakes here. I figure if we have to sing at practice, we shouldn’t have a lot of ice cream before.”   
Louis’ smile is so big and his eyes are sparkling in the industrial overhead lights, Harry can just nod.  
MInutes later the milkshake arrives. There are indeed two pink bendy straws and 4 cherries on top. Louis was right, the milkshake is huge.   
“You can taste it first.” Louis pushes the shake towards Harry. He goes to grab the tall glass cup but his hand is so big it reaches around the cold glass and his fingers slowly wrap about Louis’ hand on the milkshake. Harry’s eyes shoot up to look at Louis to apologize, but to his surprise Louis is already looking at him smiling. Harry’s breath gets caught in his throat. Louis’ hand is so small compared to his; and despite the frozen treat, Louis hand is still warm to the touch.  
“Sorry,” Harry mumbles as he pulls his hand away.  
Louis just laughs. “Hey, no worries, man. Your hands aren’t that rough.” The finishing touch to this statement is a very blatant wink directed at Harry.   
Harry’s jaw drops, as does the milkshake that he has just grabbed. As the milkshake begins to spill all over the counter, Louis picks up the glass. “Woah, woah, careful there Curly. I paid for that, you know.”   
“Um..um..” Harry can’t make words. What did Louis just say? He didn’t care that they had touched hands, he made a joke about it and then winked. He fucking winked. The wink replays in Harry’s head, Louis’ long eyelashes taking their time to completely cover his left eye and then extend back up, like a drawbridge opening up to the blue sky. It might play in Harry’s mind until he dies.  
“Harry? Harry.” His left arm is assaulted with a quick pinch. Harry’s eyes flick up in surprise as he releases a little yelp. “Harry, I asked you a question.”  
“Oh, um, sorry, I must have zoned out. What did you ask?” Harry can feel the pink raise in his face.   
“I just asked if you like mint chip. I forgot to ask before I got it.” Louis smiles and Harry just nods. “I also wanted to know if you wanted your cherries.”  
“Oh, um, no actually, I don’t like those types of cherries.” Before the words are out of Harry’s mouth, Louis sticks his hand in the milkshake and grabs the remaining two cherries. He tosses one in his mouth while maintaining eye contact with Harry. This isn’t really helping Harry not look at Louis’ lips.   
The boys split what is left of their milkshake while exchanging stories. Their hands touch a few more times but Harry pretends not to notice. He catches a glance of Louis’ watch and sees the time. He grabs Louis’ wrist without thinking about it and looks closer.   
“Holy crap, we are going to be late for practice, we need to run to Niall’s place."  
As Harry looks up, he sees that Louis is looking past Harry’s hand on his wrist to Harry’s eyes with a massive smile on his face. Harry can still feel the heat on his hand when he gets up to walk towards the door.   
Harry is in a daze about how much fun he had with Louis, elated by the multiple little touches they shared. He can’t believe he will have to spend the next two hours with the whole band and pretend not to be in love with Louis. Harry’s thoughts are interrupted by Louis sneaking in front of him to open the door. As Harry walks out the door something catches his eye - he sees a row of coin machines selling candy and some random toys.   
“Hold on, I have to get something for Niall.”   
Harry walks towards the machines, puts a dollar worth of quarters in the slot and turns the crank. A pink egg drops out of the opening and Harry smiles as he puts it in his pocket. Louis gives him a questioning look, but doesn't say anything as the boys begin their jog to Niall’s house.


	4. November

Louis and Harry jog the 2 blocks to Niall’s house. When they step through the front door, Niall is nowhere in sight, so they make their way down the stairs that lead to the basement. Before they even reach the bottom step, they can hear Niall and Liam arguing with each other.   
“No way man, I’m still way better at Fifa than you, “ Niall states with a little too much confidence.   
“Dude, I just beat you 3 times in a row!” Liam says while laughing.   
“Only because I'm trying not to, um, mess up my, my drumming hands.”  
“Niall. You play the guitar.”   
“You know what, Liam?! You’re out of the band!” Niall yells. His laugh reveals how serious he is.   
“Children, children, let’s break up the cat fight. Come on, we have a band to work out!” Louis chides as he enters the room.   
“Tomlinson! Styles!” Niall yells at the two of them. He runs over to the boys and hugs them both.   
“Niall, mate, give me breathing room,” Harry huffs out.   
“Hey Zayn, I didn’t know you were into the whole performing on stage thing,” Louis says gleefully. Zayn is sitting at an old desk in the corner of the room sketching something in a notebook.   
“Um, yeah. I’m kinda trying it out,” he answers quietly.   
“Okay guys, so what should we do first?” Liam asks the boys.   
“Maybe we should just get to know each other,” Harry suggests.   
“What do you mean?” Louis asks.   
“Well, I only really know Niall. And I only just met you, Liam and Zayn. I just thought that if we’re going to be in a band, then we should probably know more about each other than just our names,” he explains.   
“Oh, okay. So what should we talk about?” asks Louis.   
“Well, I just beat Niall three times in a row at Fifa,” Liam proudly states.   
“I know, we heard from upstairs,” Louis jokes.   
“I told you guys, I’m trying to rest up my hands,” Niall says defensively.   
“You mean your ‘drumming hands’,” Zays laughs.   
The 5 boys spend the rest of the night like this. Laughing, joking, talking, they even jam out to a song on one of Niall’s many guitars. By the time everyone leaves, it’s 10:30 and they didn't do anything productive.   
They say their goodbyes and one by one make their way out the door. Louis and Harry are the last two to leave. When they reach the end of the driveway, Louis turns to Harry.   
“Hey Harry, I’m so glad you could hang out with me today. Thanks for helping me out. I really appreciate it” Louis says with giant smile.   
What the hell. That’s exactly what he said in my dream. Oh my gosh, what do I say. Thank God it’s dark so he can't see my face. Harry, say something.   
“Um, yeah, sure. Anytime, just text me, if you want,” he says nervously.   
“Cool, thanks. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. ‘Night, Harold,” Louis says with a smirk across his perfect face.   
“G’night Lou,” Harry says. He’s pretty sure Louis can see how crimson red his cheeks are.   
With that, he turns on his heel and starts toward home. Harry replays the afternoon in his head. I spent the whole afternoon with Louis Tomlinson. Wow. He said he’ll see me tomorrow. Does that mean he’s gonna talk to me, or was he just being polite? What if he’s embarrassed to be seen with me because he’s popular and I’m not? Oh my gosh, Harry, calm down, he wouldn't have asked you to hangout if he didn’t think that you're at least decent. But he didn’t even know me, so how would he know? You two played the piano together the day of the auditions.   
Harry spends the entire walk home fighting with himself about what Louis could think about him. When he walks through the front door, his mum is in the living room reading a novel. She looks up at him, and he immediately knows he’s in trouble.   
“Harry Edward Styles, do you know what time it is?” she asks. He doesn't even get a chance to answer before she starts again. “I've tried calling you a hundred times, but you haven't been answering, where have you been?”   
Harry looks at his phone and sees multiple missed calls from his mother and that it’s almost 11:30. “I’m so sorry Mum. I was at Niall’s planning for the band. I didn't know my phone was on silent, and I didn’t notice the time,” he explains.  
“It’s okay Harry, just don’t let it happen again. Or at least call or text me if you’re going to be home late. I was worried about you,” she says with a sigh.   
“It won’t, I promise. I’m sorry.”  
As Harry walks up the stairs, he feels the familiar vibration in his pocket. Who is texting me so late?  
Hey Curly, I hope you didn’t get in trouble, my Mum just gave me a whole lecture on scaring a woman to death and how I would have to raise my sisters alone and all sorts of stuff.   
Harry’s heart skips a beat as he reads the text. Louis had just left him, but still sent him a text. It wasn’t necessary, he was just starting conversation.   
Harry wonders if he should respond. Is it the type of message you respond to, or is it just a rhetorical question? Harry thumbs over his screen for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. Just as he pushes the text box to reply, his phone vibrates in his hand.  
What is your off period tomorrow?  
Now that is definitely a question that wants a response. Why does Louis want to know his off period? Maybe he wants to go shopping again...God damnit Harry, just answer the damn text message already.   
Hey Lou, yea i got yelled at too. No one died in my scenario though :-) I actually don’t have an off period. Why whats up? Did you forget to buy something today?  
Good, that was a good message. Not too many details, a smiley face to show that he appreciates the text. Yeah...good job, Harry.  
Harry strips off his clothes and throws them in the hamper. He doesn’t understand people who just let their dirty clothes pile up on the floor. It is isn't that hard to make it in the basket. After his clothes are away and his face is washed, he climbs into bed, takes out his book, and starts to read. Maybe Louis has fallen asleep? Or maybe the smiley face was too much. Harry keeps reading to get his mind off the lack of vibrations coming from his phone. After 20 minutes, Harry’s eyes begin to get heavy and he puts his book down and cuddles into his sheets.  
Sorry had to take a shower… I just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out during your free period, kick a ball around or something.  
Haha, he wants be to kick a ball around with me? Is he serious? Do I look remotely athletic? Oh, but that is really cute, I wish I could kick a ball around with him...what if I just happened to have a free period tomorrow?  
When is your off period?   
I have 4th of tomorrow.  
Harry stops and thinks before he responds. He has been to all his classes this year, well, every year. He actually got an award at his last school for never having missed a day. He likes school and he wants to go to a good college… but he also really likes the way that Louis smiles when he laughs, and the way his eye lashes cover most of his blue eyes. He likes the way Louis looks in shorts and how confident and snarky he can be. He likes the way that Louis’ skin might feel under Harry’s touch… shit, stop this is unhealthy. I barely know the guy. He has a girlfriend and we are in a band together and that would just be awkward  
I could probably skip 4th tomorrow, it is only Spanish and I’m already having a hard enough time learning what you people call English.  
Harry presses send and pats himself on the back for the joke. He turns back to his book but his phone lights up.   
Haha. Are you sure you want to skip. I thought the Spanish teacher was like, really strict.   
Yeah it’s okay, she likes me. I thinks it’s the accent.   
Of course Harry. ;) So do you wanna meet by the field after 3rd period. I can bring my soccer ball.   
Harry feels like there’s butterflies fluttering in his heart. Oh my gosh, he sent me a winky face again. What do I tell him? I want to hang out with him but if we kick the ball around I’ll fall and embarrass myself.  
Sounds good, but you should know that I’m shit at football, I mean ‘soccer’.  
It’s okay Curly. That could be entertaining or I could teach you some things. I am the best player in the city obviously.   
Harry laughs to himself. It could be really fun to have Louis teach him how to play. He could, like, put his hands on his hips when he kicks, or, like… Okay Harry, you really need to calm down.   
Or we just sit and talk or something if you don’t want to embarrass yourself :-)  
Harry falls asleep before he reads the final message but his dreams are filled with blue eyes, dainty ankles, sharp cheekbones and a hearty laugh.   
….  
As the bell for 4th period rings, Harry walks the long way around school to avoid his Spanish teacher and heads for the field. Even from across the field, Harry can see Louis’ giant smile. His tiny hand waves at Harry and Louis starts jogging over to him. Harry stops in his tracks; he could watch Louis run forever. The muscles in his legs move with every step, hair flying back in the wind - Louis might just be perfection personified. Before Louis realizes that Harry is being a creep again, Harry starts walking towards him. The smile Harry has had all day grows even wider and his eyes light up like a kid on Christmas.   
“Hey Curly, I am glad you decided to skip el clase de espanol.”  
“Hey Louis, me too. We were going over a new verb tense and I really didn’t think I could handle that. Plus, I could use the sunshine.” Harry lifts his face into the sunshine.  
“I have never heard a truer fact.” Louis puts his arm against Harry’s. “You are quite pale, man. Is there no sun over the pond?” Louis’ smile is mesmerizing  
“Truer?” Harry asks.  
“When you have 5 younger sisters, you pick up some vocabulary. Trying to change the subject about your pale skin? ‘Cause it’s not working,” Louis teases.  
“Well, no, not really, like, it is pretty cold and rainy there most of the time.” Harry starts babbling about the weather but quickly stops himself mid-sentence. “Um, so, yeah, sorry, you didn't need a weather report. But yeah, I really like the sun.” Harry shifts his weight back and forth between his feet. His hands are crossed behind his back and his eyes are looking anywhere but into Louis’.  
“You won't get too tan with the skinny jeans on though, don’t you get warm?” Louis gestures at Harry’s ripped black skin tight jeans.  
“Yeah, um, I guess. I don’t really think about it. They are comfortable. I um, didn’t bring anything else.” Harry can feel his cheeks getting pink, and not from the sun. In order to evade the certain impending awkwardness, he tries to turn this into a joke. “I didn’t realize we were running a marathon together today.” He lets out a little laugh and hopes that it doesn’t sound too forced.  
Without a word, Louis turns around and runs away from Harry. Harry looks around in complete confusion. Did he say something to upset Louis? What just happened? What did he say? Harry is about to turn around and walk away when he sees Louis pull something out of the bag in the middle of the field and run back towards Harry.  
“I have another pair of shorts that you can use.” Louis throws a pair of red soccer shorts in Harry’s direction. To his surprise, Harry catches them. He releases an audible breath of relief. “Put ‘em on. You will be a lot more comfortable.”   
Louis is moving around in his shorts, stretching his legs and bringing his knees up to his chest and Harry forgets to breathe. “I’d have to go all the way back inside to change, that just seems like a waste of time,” Harry starts while brandishing the shorts around.  
“Or, I mean, you could just change here,” Louis laughs. “It isn’t like there is anyone else around. You have boxers on right? Just change here.”  
This is Harry’s chance to make another joke. “Why do you think I have boxers on? Is it because I am always naked?” Harry starts laughing at his own joke before he notices that he is the only one laughing. Louis looks at him confused.  
“Shit,” Harry starts. “ Yeah, that was a bit awkward, I kinda forgot that you don’t know me that well. Like, if you had known me from before that would have been really funny.” His voice fades out on the last few words. His knuckles are white from gripping the shorts so tight at this point.  
“I am sure I would Curly.” Thankfully Louis is laughing at this point and pokes Harry in the stomach. “Now put on the shorts so we can play around for a bit.”  
Hoping to forget this moment ever happened, Harry quickly undoes his pants and pulls them down. Without missing a beat he pulls on Louis’ shorts.   
Harry hadn't realized how much taller he was then Louis until he was wearing his clothes and saw how they fit him. The shorts that should have come to about 2 inches above Harry’s knee where now quite short. The palest parts of his legs were showing and his legs looked even more giraffe-like than usual. To cover up, Harry pulls the shorts down to sit lower on his hips.  
Louis slowly approaches Harry and puts his hands on his shoulders, “It’s okay kiddo, you got nice legs, show them off. There are no kids here that you are going to scare off with your white ass legs.” With that Louis flicks at Harry’s exposed quad and laughs.  
Without even processing what Louis just said Harry quickly whines back, “Hey don’t call me kiddo, my sister calls me that. You and I are the same age.”  
“That is where you are wrong, kiddo,” Louis starts with a smile. His hands are still on Harry’s shoulder. “ I started school late so I am almost a year older than most seniors. And if I can assume that your phone password is your birthday, you are even younger than most seniors. Therefore kiddo, you are a kiddo.” Louis is laughing even harder now, and even though he is at least 6 inches taller, Harry suddenly feels very small.   
Not knowing what else to do, Harry kicks the soccer ball out from Louis feet and takes off towards the goal.  
Louis chases Harry around for a few minutes but eventually Louis catches up with Harry, grabs him around the waist and tackles him to the ground. Both boys lay on the grass next to each other and stare into the clouds. Harry can almost feel the tickle of Louis pinky against his. He lets the sensation linger for a bit.  
“Hey, that cloud looks like a dolphin!” Harry points at the cloud just above Louis’ head.  
“Which cloud?” Louis asks. “I only see the one that looks like a backpack.” Louis shifts his head around on the ground to look for the dolphin.  
Harry rolls onto his side to get a better look at Louis. Before he even thinks about it, Harry grabs Louis’ face and moves his head so he is looking straight at the dolphin cloud.   
“It’s right there, do you see it now?”   
Louis eyes only look at the cloud for a second before they shift to look directly at Harry. The boys stare at each other, and it feels like Harry’s world has stopped. He swears he can see dolphins in the waves of Louis’ ocean blue eyes.   
Louis arm shoots up and touches Harry’s hair.   
“You got funny curls, my sisters would call them boing-boing curls.” Louis grabs the end of one of Harry’s curls and pulls it down and laughs as it bounces back into place.   
“Thanks, I’m proud of my curls. And your sisters sound adorable. How many do you have again?”  
Louis takes a minute to think. Harry looks down and sees him counting on his fingers.   
“I have 5 sisters, all younger,” he says.   
“Wow, I bet your house is busy. I have an older sister, Gemma.”  
“Oh yeah, my friend Lindsay’s older sister and Gemma are friends. I’ve talked to her a few times.”  
Friend...He said friend!...Harry thinks about asking more questions about Lindsay but decides against it.   
They lay in silence for a few minutes. Then Louis says,   
“Do you have a plans after school?”  
Harry can feel his heart accelerate. He has to think twice to make sure that he heard him right.   
“Um, no, I don’t. Why?”  
“Well, one of my sisters asked me to come watch her ballet practice and I really don’t want to be there alone. I feel like such a dance mom, covered in tutus and ribbons.”  
“Oh, yeah sure, I’ll go with you. I love tutus and ribbons.” Louis goes to poke at Harry’s dimples.  
A loud bell rings across the school signaling the end of the period. The boys sit up and begin to make their way to their backpacks. Harry looks down and realizes that he still has Louis' shorts on.   
“Louis, don’t you want your shorts back?” he asks.   
“It’s okay, just keep them In your locker or something,” he says with a smile.  
“But they’re yours, and they don’t even fit me.”  
“Just keep them Harry, show off your legs,” he laughs. “Hey, so do you wanna meet me in the front of the school after 7th period? We can walk to the dance studio, it’s only a block away.”  
“Yeah, sure.”  
“Okay, cool, I’ll see you later.”  
“Later.” Harry waves and turns to walk to his next class.   
Wow. That was amazing. I just spent an entire period with Louis and now I’m hanging out with him after school, I’m going to marry this boy.   
Harry doesn’t have time to change before his next class and decides to wear Louis’ shorts through the next period. If he wears them for the rest of the day it is only because it is warm out and the shorts are really comfortable. No one says anything to him about changing clothes in the middle of the day until he runs into Niall in the hallway.   
“Hey Haz, um, not to be a creeper or anything, but I am pretty sure you weren’t wearing short shorts this morning. Did you rip your skin tight jeans or something?” Niall has a smile on his face as he stares at the shorts that Harry is trying to pull lower on his hips. “Wait a second, those are the soccer teams warm-ups from last year. Where did you get those?”  
Shit, Harry thinks to himself. He knows that Niall won’t care and he already knows Harry and Louis hang out; but sharing clothes seems like it would bring on a lot of questions. Unfortunately, Harry can not think on his feet quickly, especially as every time he touches Louis’ shorts, he can feel Louis’ hand on his arm.   
Harry stares at Niall for far too long as he tries to think of a good reason why he would have a pair of the soccer teams’ shorts, but his thoughts are interrupted.  
“Dude, Earth to Harry. Where did you go? I just asked about the shorts man…” Niall looks concerned, as if Harry’s eyes were rolling back in his head.  
“Oh yeah, um, sorry, blanked out for a second. Um, they are Louis’ shorts, he let me borrow them for….um….gym since I forgot my shorts.” It is the quickest thing that Harry can think of. He knows it is a horrible lie and Niall can probably see right through it, but he just smiles, hoping that NIall will change the subject.  
No such luck. “Well, that is nice of him. But why are you still wearing your gym clothes then? You probably smell.”  
With nothing better to say, Harry just playfully shoves Niall in the arm. “I’m not you Niall, I happen to smell lovely, thank you very much.”  
This seems to end the conversation about Harry’s shorts and he breathes a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, Niall has another questions for him. “Hey, what are you doing after school? I was going to go get some fries and play FIFA before band practice tonight, want to join?”  
“Um, I already have plans, thanks though.” Harry looks at the halls emptying out around him as students find their classrooms. Harry knows he should get to class but doesn’t want to walk away and draw more attention to the situation.  
“Man, you never have time for me anymore. What are you doing anyway? Are you hanging out with King Louis again? I swear to God, if you ditch me for him...” Niall is still smiling but Harry can’t figure out if he is actually upset.  
“Well, yeah actually, he asked me to go pick up his sister with him. Sorry mate, let’s hang out tomorrow after school. I promise. You, me, tons of junk food, and FIFA.”  
“You are picking up his sister with him? What, are you a couple now?” Niall laughs and pokes Harry in the chest.  
Harry can’t spit it out fast enough. “What? No, we are like friends and stuff, like you and me friends, I would pick up your sister if you had one, too.” Harry knows that he is mumbling and rushing through words but he doesn’t care, he just wants to get the information across and leave this conversation.  
“Wow, slow down there cowboy, I was just playing. I was going to make another joke about his shorts, but I seem to have hit a sensitive issue so I’ll just leave it at that. Why are you so weird? Did the Tommo try to make a move on you or something?” Niall’s laughter gets louder as he winks at Harry.   
“Shut-up.” It isn’t eloquent, or even helpful, but it is all Harry can say as his heart tries to beat out of his chest. He flicks Niall’s bangs off his face and walks towards his class as quickly as he can. He can feel the blush spread over his face and his mind drifts to the thought of Louis “making a move on him.”   
What does making a move entail? Is it making move to touch his hand? Is it making a move to hold his hand? Is it making a move to push the hair out of his eyes…  
Smash! Harry walks straight into the door to his classroom. He was so enthralled in his daydreaming about Louis he didn’t realize the teacher had shut the door to the classroom. Harry stumbles back trying to steady himself, but is unsuccessful in the attempt. His giraffe legs just can’t find grounding and he feels himself going down. Before he hits the ground, he feels a solid mass behind him hold him up.  
“Wow man, careful there.” Thankfully it is Liam’s smiling face holding Harry up. “We keep running into each other when you are falling. Are you going to be able to be on a stage without falling off?” Liam pushes Harry back up to his feet and gives him a friendly smack on the back.  
“Thanks Liam, it would have been even more embarrassing to completely fall over. I didn’t even notice that the door was shut.”  
Before Harry or Liam can say anything else, the door to the classroom opens and the teacher glares at Harry. “ Mr. Styles, you are late and disrupting my class. I don’t know what you are allowed to do in England, but here we show up to class on time and quietly knock on the door, not throw our entire body onto it.”  
Harry can see the entire class staring at him. “ Sorry ma’m, it won’t happen again.” The group of girls in the front row of class are all staring and laughing at Harry. How could his day start so well and yet be going so poorly right now?   
“It better not, and to make sure it doesn’t, you owe me 15 minutes after school today.”   
Harry gets ready to argue and explain he has plans but his teacher has already turned around and walked to the front of the class. He trudges over to his seat with his head down. He has to tell Louis that he is going to be late, he doesn’t want him to think that he stood him up.   
Through class, all Harry can think about is getting to his locker to grab his cell phone and text Louis. He knows that Louis keeps his phone in his pocket all the time so maybe he will see the text before the end of the day. Hopefully he will be able to wait for Harry.   
He thinks about asking to go to the bathroom during class but knows that he is already in trouble with this teacher so decides to wait until passing time to run to his locker. Once he is safely and timely in his seat for his next class, Harry slowly pulls his phone out of his pocket. He pulls up Louis number and starts thinking about what to text, the phone buried in his lap underneath the desk.  
Hey Louis, sorry I am going to be late after school. I got a 15 minute detention. You can leave without me if you want. :-/  
Harry quickly pushes send before he can second guess the smiley and shoves his phone back in his pocket. Within the minute Harry can feel a vibration on his right thigh. He quickly reaches into his pocket as if someone might see that the text was from Louis and slides the unlock button.  
You got detention? What did you do? Did you get caught skipping with me? I’ll wait for you! You still need to come with me, you said you would! :-)  
I’ll still go with you, don’t panic dance mom! No I didn't get caught ditching...I showed up late for class...and then...um...ran into the door. :-(  
hahaha, you ran into the door! I will have to hear that story later. Wait are you texting me in class? I thought you didn’t bring your phone to class...I am a terrible influence on you  
If you are nice I might tell you, and yes you are horrible and I hate you  
Good, what class do you have to stay late in. I’ll come and meet you  
Ms. Handler rm 14  
When Harry puts his phone away, he realizes he has missed the entire lesson; there are a set of discussion prompts on the board he is supposed to be writing about in his notebook. He trades the cell phone for a notebook and begins to write quickly to catch up to everyone else.   
The rest of his classes pass without further humiliation. Once the final bell rings Harry walks back to Ms. Handler’s room for his detention. As he walks in, the teacher doesn’t even look up and just tells him to take a seat. “Find a seat. If you waste my time, I waste yours.”   
Harry sits down and stares at the clock counting down the fifteen minutes. At minute 7 he hears a knock at the door and looks up to see a smiling face with big blue eyes and brown fringe. What the hell is Louis doing in the classroom? Harry makes clear eye contact to ask what he is doing. Louis just smiles at him and walks to the teacher. As Harry is watching Louis, his hands lower to his legs and he realizes he still wears Louis’ shorts. God damnit, Styles! Why are you so embarrassing?  
“Mr. Tomlinson, what can I help you with?” Ms. Handler asks with a smile. Harry has never seen her smile at anyone else like that. Is Louis popular with the teachers as well? Who is this kid?  
“Nothing much, I just came by to thank you for such a great lesson today and ask if there is anything that I can do to help you out around the room for a while. You see, young Harold over there helps teach my younger sister’s ballet class and we always walk over together... but since he has to stay late I was going to stay with him and I thought that I could at least help out my favorite teacher.” The smile on Louis’ face is growing and Harry is pretty sure Louis just winked at him.   
“He helps teach the class?” The smile hasn’t left Ms. Handler’s face and she still hasn’t looked at Harry.  
“Oh yes, he is a marvelous dancer. He has been dancing since he was just this tall.” Louis puts his hand to knee level. “He has the best pirouettes I have ever seen, actually.”  
“Interesting. Well, I will tell you what, Mr. Tomlinson. If you will give Mr. Styles a firm talking to about how horribly rude it is to be late on your walk, I will let him go now.” She still hasn’t looked at Harry, but he can’t believe what is happening right now. How in God’s name is Louis talking him out of detention?   
“I will do just that Ms. Handler. I have no idea what got into him. He is usually such a good kid, he must be starting to hang out with the wrong kids.” Harry swears he saw the wink that time. “ I will make sure to talk to him today.” It is like Harry isn’t even in the room. He is just watching this all happen from afar and he is pretty sure his jaw is on the floor from complete confusion.   
“Come along Harold, let’s go.” Louis is picks up Harry’s backpack and throws it over his shoulder.   
Without a second look at the teacher, Harry stands up and follows Louis out the door. Though neither says anything until they have left the school, Harry can see the giant smile on Louis face the whole time. Once the boys see the sunlight, Harry decides to speak. “What the bloody hell was that?”  
Louis whips his head around. The smile on his face doesn’t look like it could get any bigger, but Harry can see the mischief in his eyes. “I didn’t want to wait that long for you and I wasn't going to go to ballet practice alone.” Louis keeps walking as he explains to Harry.  
“Right, okay, but how did you-? I don’t get what happened... Ms. Handler hates everyone, but, like...what?” Harry can’t see to put a full sentence together, let alone articulate why he is so confused.  
“Teachers like me Curly, you should try it. You can get a lot of things and get away with a lot of things if the teachers like you.” There is the God damn wink again.   
Louis is laughing but still walking. How are his short legs moving so much faster than Harry’s? The taller boy runs to catch up. The boys discuss their day for the next 15 minutes as they walk to the ballet studio downtown.  
\--------  
Inside the studio it smells like hairspray and fruity lotion. Harry likes all the colors and giggling that surrounds him. He sees the group of little girls dancing behind the window and he sits next to Louis to watch.  
“Which is your sister?” Harry asks with a grin.  
“She is the one with green ripped tutu. She wouldn't let me fix it before she wore it.” Louis waves at the little girl in the green tutu. She has the same blue eyes as Louis and they light up when they see their match.   
“Wait, you fix her tutus?” Harry giggles.  
“Don’t laugh! I made that tutu.” Louis is starting to blush and Harry didn’t think he could look anymore adorable. “It is just my mom and all us kids and she works a lot. I spend a lot of time babysitting and doing things around the house and, yes, that includes making tutus. That one isn’t one of my better ones, you should see the one she is going to wear for her recital, it has flowers and ribbons.” Louis says. His eyes are sparkling with pride and embarrassment at the same time.   
Harry just stares at the older boy in awe. How does Louis Tomlinson keep getting even more interesting? Harry’s heart feels like it has grown 3 sizes in his chest.  
Before Harry can say anything, Louis interrupts him. “I know, I know, a proper dance mom, but don’t ask me to cook. I can’t do that shit.”  
Harry can’t wipe the smile of his face as he just stares at Louis. “That is amazing, Lou…” He uses the nickname from his phone and thinks it sounds good. He can feel the tension in the air so he decides this is a good time to say something else. “And don’t worry about cooking, I am a great cook.”  
“Oh really, ‘Mr. Styles’. Aren’t you proper domestic,” Louis giggles. “You will have to cook for me sometime!”   
I would cook for you everyday of our life…..   
Instead of embarrassing himself again, Harry decides to go with a much more relaxed response. “I can definitely cook for you sometime, I like being all domestic.”  
Suddenly, the screams of little girls takes over the room. Harry sees Louis’ little sister run and jump into Louis’ arms. “Hey little bug, how was ballet today?”  
The little girl takes off on a minute by minute recount of what happened in the past hour. Louis takes her hand and starts walking towards the door. She is still jabbering away when suddenly her words are interrupted by a thud and crying. Harry looks down to see her laying face down on the floor, sobbing. Her tutu has ripped even more and her tiny feet are tangled with each other.   
Louis immediately bends down to try and calm his sister, but she’s holds her right wrist and cries uncontrollably. She has ripped off her tutu and thrown it to the ground in tears, still holding her throbbing wrist.  
Without thinking, Harry grabs the tutu and pulls it over his long legs. He ties a stray ribbon in his curls and starts dancing around in an attempt to distract the little girl. Two wet blue eyes finally look up and lock with Harry’s. A small smile starts to spread on her face, so Harry does another pirouette until the little girl begins to laugh. To Harry’s horror, he realizes that everyone in the studio is laughing at him as well.   
Louis looks at Harry and starts laughing with everyone else. Once everyone is laughing and the little girl’s face begins to dry, Harry stops dancing and bends down to talk to the little girl. “Hey love, m’Harry. How does your wrist feel?”  
“Hi Harry, I’m Daisy, I really like your hair and your dancing. My wrist hurts a lot.” Daisy shoves her wrist into Harry’s face. Not knowing what else to do, he lowers his head and gives the little wrist a quick kiss. The little girl starts to giggle and looks up at her brother.  
“Well then, little bug, we should get you home so we can get some ice on it and feed you some dinner.”  
The little girl looks between Louis and Harry. “Can Harry come with us? He should eat dinner, too.”  
“I don’t know, Daisy. Why don’t you ask him?”  
Daisy turns to Harry, tilting her head to look at his face,   
“Harry, can you please come to eat dinner with us? I promise it’ll be yummy,” she says sweetly.   
He looks down into her big blue eyes that resemble Louis so much.   
“I would be honored to eat dinner with you Daisy,” Harry says. Daisy smiles making her look even more like her brother.   
“YAY!!” she squeals, “Don’t worry if my sisters scare you, they're really nice.” she says.   
“Oh thank goodness you’ll be there to help me!” Harry giggles.   
“Great. But we should get home so that we can eat before it gets too late.” Louis says.   
Daisy gets up and grabs Louis’s hand but also reaches up for Harry’s. He looks down and smiles at her and they walk out of the studio hand in hand. Daisy finishes telling the boys about her day and soon enough there at the house. Louis takes out a set of keys and presses them to the door but it was already open. He grunts and steps in.   
“Girls! What have I told you about leaving the front door open!” he yells.   
A girl, about 13 or 14, walks into the room. She looks at Louis and smiles worriedly.   
“Sorry Boo. I just picked up the mail and I guess I didn’t close the door all the way,” she said quickly.   
“It’s okay just pay more attention next time. Okay?”  
“Yes sir.” she says. Then salutes him with a smile.   
“Hey,” She walks around Louis and sees Harry standing behind him. “Who’s this?”  
“He’s Harry”  
“Hi Harry! I’m Charlotte but you can call me Lottie.” she says.  
“Hi Lottie. M’Harold but you can call me Harry.” he says.  
She laughs and asks “Are you staying for dinner?”  
“Yes I am.”  
“Great! I have some homework to finish but I’ll see you later,” and with that she whips her ponytail around and runs up the spiraling staircase.   
“Um, so this, as you can see is the living room. Lets go to the kitchen and I’ll introduce you to my mum.” says Louis.   
“Oh okay.” Harry says.   
The boys make their way through the house. Harry meets Louis’ four other sisters. Felicite, Phoebe, Georgia, and Doris. All of which seem to love Harry. When they arrive in the kitchen Louis’s mom is bent down looking through an opening of an oven.   
“Boo Bear!!! Darling, I’ve been thinking about you all day! Did you miss me? How was your day? How was your calculus test? Are you hungry? How was Daisy’s class? Did you take pictures?” she asks a million questions at once and at the end Harry is overwhelmed, but somehow Louis heard everything.   
“I missed you lots, my day was wonderful, test went well, starving, okay she fell but she’s alright, no I didn’t take pictures but I will next time.” he says in one breath.   
“Oh well that's great. And who is this handsome boy behind you?”  
“Hello mam, I’m Harry.” he says and reaches out to shake her hand. But instead of a handshake, she grabs his hand and pulls him into a tight hug.  
“Oh, what a beautiful English accent you have! And please, call me Johannah. Are you staying for dinner?” she says  
“Only if that's okay with you.” he says politely.   
“Of course! Were having lasagna. Boo will you please set the table for me and tell your sisters to wash their hands, especially Daisy.”   
“Yeah sure mum. I’ll be right back Harry” Louis says, and walks out of the kitchen in search for his sisters.   
Harry rocks his feet back and forth until asking Johannah,  
“Do you need any help. I could help cut that deliciously smelling bread, or I could help serve the lasagna?”   
“That would be lovely Harry. Here’s a knife for the bread, be careful it just came out it might be hot.” she says in a motherly tone.   
The two spend the next five minutes preparing dinner. They end up talking about England. Sharing experiences and talking about places they’ve visited. Harry tells her a story about the time they went ice skating in the park and he kept slipping and falling. Johannah is laughing tears when Louis finally came back.   
“Well aren’t the two of you the best of friends!” he giggles.   
“You be good to this Harry, he’s a keeper,” she says, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. Harry blushes and turns away from Louis. God Harry, calm down. She didn’t mean it like that. Not yet… hopefully.   
“Um, yeah mum he’s just a friend,” Wow. Okay, that hurt. “Soo, anyway. The tables set and the girls are waiting.”  
“Shall we,” Harry says  
“We shall,” says Johannah.   
Louis takes the pan of lasagna, Harry takes the salad, and Johannah takes the basket of garlic bread. They set the food in the center of the long table and take their seats.  
“Ooh ooh! Harry sit next to me!” says Daisy.   
“No I wanna sit next to Harry!” says Phoebe.   
The two girls start pushing each other and grabbing onto Harry’s arms. “Well ladies you are in luck because I have two ‘next to’s.’ Phoebe, you sit on my right and Daisy you sit on my left. How does that sound?”  
Eventually all the girls are happy and Harry is sitting in the middle of the two girls with the other girls sitting across from him and Louis and Joanna sitting at the heads of the table. From his right side, he can feel someone tugging on his hair. He turns and makes eye contact with tiny blue eyes glittering up at him.   
“I really like you hair Harry.” The little girl is giggling, but still pulling  
“I like his hair too but don’t pull on it or it will fall of,” Louis warned.   
Harry looks back down, blushing at what Louis just said, “Oh, I’m sorry Harry.”  
“Its okay Phoebes, I am glad you like my hair.”  
“I like his hair more.” A smaller voice shouts from Harry’s other side. “And I don’t just touch, I ask permission first. Harry can I touch your hair?”  
“Why don't we finish dinner first, and then I promise we can play with my hair,” he says.   
“Excellent idea.” Johanna says   
Louis shoots Harry an apologetic look from the end of the table but his lips are turned up in a smile like he thinks this is the funniest thing in the world. Lottie speaks up and announces,   
“I think the girls have their first crush. I don't blame them either. Harry’s adorable” she turned to Louis and says, “Don't you think Harry’s adorable Lou?”  
What the hell is wrong with her. Oh my gosh what’s he going to say. Urgh calm down Harry.   
“Yes Lots, he is an angel walking on earth...I would like to shrink him and put in him in my pocket and then let you plays dolls with a mini-Harry.” Louis is smiling directly at Harry as he says this. With a long pause, Louis finishes his thought, “Now that we have discussed how utterly adorable Harry is, can we please get back to dinner? Once we are done we can watch the latest episode of Pretty Little Liars that I know you all have been dying to see.”  
The rest of dinner goes by normal enough. Harry is smiling the entire time and loves spending time with Louis family. Once dinner is over, he realizes that it is quite late and should be getting home. Harry thanks Joanna for dinner and gives her a kiss on the cheek as he walks towards the door after Louis.   
Harry turns around at the sound of stampeding feet. Two little girls jump onto Harry’s legs and pull him down. “Harry we want good bye kisses too!” both girls have huge toothy grins looking up at him.   
Harry smiles and bends down to give each little girl a kiss on the cheek.   
“Lou?” says Daisy, “Why don’t you give Harry a goodbye kiss, we all got one?” the question in the youngest girls eyes is clear. She is not trying to make it awkward but her words make Harry want to run out of the door to hide his blush.  
Harry doesn’t know what to do when Louis takes a step closer to him. Surely his first kiss with a boy will not be in front of said boy’s whole family. Harry is sure that Louis can hear his heart beat as he gets closer to harry still. Finally with no warning, Louis puckers his lips, raises onto his tip toes and makes an exaggerated smooching sound as his lips smoosh onto Harry’s forehead. Louis pulls his lips away with a smile, and turns to look at his sisters.   
“How that for a goodnight kiss little bug?” Louis starts tickling his younger sister until the girl can’t breathe.  
Harry turns his head a bit to try to hide his blushing cheeks and sees Lottie standing in the doorway, smirking. He raises his eyebrows at her but all she does is wink at him and turn around. Harry coughs to himself, completely humiliated, and laughs with the rest of the group until there is enough break in sound to announce his departure.  
“Thanks again for everything. It was lovely to meet all of you. Lou I will see you tomorrow at school.” Harry is halfway out the door at his final word.  
“Louis William Tomlinson, do not make this boy walk all the way home by himself. He is new here and as we have learned this evening he is very popular with the young ladies.” Louis mother is grabbing harry by the wrist and pushing Louis out the door at the same time.  
Harry hurries to calm Johanna, “I am fine ma’am, thanks though, I only live a few blocks away. I will be fine walking alone.”  
“Nonsense, Lou will at least walk you part way. I raised a better son than that. Louis put on your shoes and walk him.”  
Both boys walk out the front door and harry barely looks up. He is so embarrassed. Not from the kiss per say, he liked the kiss, he wishes it was not on his forehead though. Firstly, a forehead kiss makes him feel like his grandmother kissed him and he is suddenly very much more aware of the acne on his forehead.   
The boys are both silent as they walk. Harry is the first to break the silence, “You really don't have to walk me, I am a big kid. I will manage the few blocks to my house.”  
Louis stops walking and looks at Harry for a while before he starts talking, “Curly, it is okay. I would much rather hang out with you for while then watch the daily fight that is making my sisters go to bed. Plus you totally rocked today and I owe you big. I have never seen my sisters fall in love with someone so quickly.”   
Harry can feel that familiar blush popping up again, he doesn’t think he has stopped blushing since he met Louis. “It was no big deal, I really like your family, your sisters are adorable and your mum is fantastic.” Harry starts walking again, but turns to look at Louis, “and of course your sisters loved me, what’s not to love.” That was bold for Harry but he feels a little braver at night when the street lights are illuminating Louis eyes and his constant blush is hidden in the darkness.   
“Haha, I guess I'd rather have them loving you and not some boy their own age. I don’t think I will every be at a place that I will be ok with my sisters dating.” Harry laughs as Louis obviously thinks about beating up any boys who go near his sisters.  
Hoping to change the subject, Harry starts asking how Louis is feeling about the band.  
“Its great, I love it, we just need more time to practice together. And like, Niall’s place is great but it is huge distraction that he is a human garbage can you know. Like one minute we are tearing through a new song and then next he disappears upstairs again and comes back with more food. I think we could be really good, we just need a better practice space.”  
Harry loves Niall but agrees that it is hard to get any work done while Niall is constantly eating. Then it hits him; he stops in his track and looks directly at Louis, “Oh my gosh, I have an idea. My step dad, he has this bungalow just a few hours from here by the river. He said that I can use it whenever I want and there aren’t really any neighbors so we could practice there.” Harry’s voice is getting excited as he figures out a solution to the problem.  
“Holy shit, that sounds amazing.” Louis is almost jumping up and down in excitement. “Could we stay for like a week? We have break coming up and we could all go there and practice and get to know each other.”  
“I will ask him tonight, but I’m sure he will say ok.” Harry looks around and notices that they are a block from his house and decides that he even though he loves to hang out with Louis he should probably have a minute alone to process today before his mum and Gemma bombard him with questions. “Lou this is more than halfway to my house. Thanks for walking me but I can take it from here. You should get home.”  
“I see how it is curly, you are trying to get rid of me. I will leave you now, I guess…” Louis is laughing but not walking away. Harry turns to walk towards home when Louis speaks again, “Hey wait a second, my sisters would be very upset with you for not leaving with a goodbye kiss.” Louis wiggles his nose as he continues to laugh.  
This boy is going to kill Harry by the end of the night, but Harry has one more good play up his sleeve. He gets down on one knee and grabs Louis’ hand. Without saying anything Harry presses his lips to the top of Louis hand with an obnoxiously loud “smooch” sound. “Thank you kind sir, for walking me home,” Harry makes his voice very high to finish his joke, “I don’t know how I would have ever made it all by my little self. You are my hero.” Harry stands up, turns around and begins to skip off. He can hear Louis still laughing as he crosses the street.   
Stop skipping Styles! What the fuck is wrong with you? Oh my gosh that was weird. What the hell were you thinking! Urgh! What if I just made things awkward between you now? But he didn't stare at me weird or anything after I kissed his hand, so maybe it’ll be okay. I mean he laughed sooo, maybe he’ll think I was just trying to be funny. Yeah, funny is good for now. But what if he like, makes fun of me for kissing his hand. That would be embarrassing, especially at band practice. The bungalow! I gotta ask Robin if we can practice there. I’m sure It’ll be okay. But there's only 4 bedrooms so someone will have to share. It’ll probably end up being Niall and me cause ‘Narry’ but what about Louis. Were getting pretty friendly, and I kinda took off my pants in front of him already but…   
Harry turns into the front yard of his house. He quietly slips his key into the slot and hurries in. He walks to the living room to say hello to his mum.  
“Hi mum, how are you?”  
“Hello Harry. I’m fine. How was dinner with your friend. Louis, right?”   
“Yes, Louis. It was fun. His little sisters are adorable and his mum his wonderful.”   
“Oh well that's great. I’m glad that you're making new friends. How’s Niall, haven’t seen him in a while.”  
“Oh okay I guess. We were going to hang out after school tomorrow if that's okay?”  
“Of course. Tell him I say hello.”  
“Okay Mum I will. I’m going to bed now. I’m all tired out. Night, love you.”  
“Goodnight Harry. I love you.”  
Harry makes his way up the stairs and goes to his room. He closes his door and decides to put Louis' shorts back on and an old t-shirt. He lies down on his bed with his lamp on, looking up at the ceiling. He tries to close his eyes but the day keeps replaying in his head. Louis’s bright eyes and stunning smile are burned in his memory.   
This is weird. Why can’t I stop thinking about Louis. Well, I know why. It’s because he’s perfect. He’s beautiful, smart, funny, and his family is amazing. But, he’s not into guys though. He’s going out with that Lindsay girl. But that's okay I guess. I’d rather be friends with him, than mess up our friendship. But he's just so adorable. Like when he says that he doesn't like the way his voice sounds on tape, and it’s just perfect how his hand fits in mine. It’s the little things like that, that makes it impossible not be attracted to him. Wait…  
Harry reaches across his bed and reaches for his journal next on his nightstand. His mind brewing, his pen releasing lyrics as if they had been stuck inside. His eyebrows pinched at the top and he bites his lower lip.   
"The crinkles by his eyes.." Harry finds himself talking out loud to himself. "Well at least I'm saying these words in my notebook and not out loud, I really can't let these words slip out of my mouth.”  
He wakes up the next morning with his notebook on his chest and his lip swollen from biting it it so much. Thank God it is Friday, he is so tired from staying up all night writing lyrics...and maybe drawing Louis’ eyes a few times.  
He pulls off Louis' shorts sadly and runs to the bathroom to take a quick shower and checkout the damage to his lip. It’s puffy but he doesn't have time to play with it, school starts in 10 minutes and he wants to see Louis before class. Harry races down the stairs, kisses his mum, sister, stepfather, and run-walks to school.   
When he walks through the gates of the school he instantly sees Louis and rushes toward him. When Louis notices Harry he displays a smile that makes Harry’s heart melt.   
"Hey curly, running a little late aren't you?" Louis smirks as he nudges Harry's arm. "Oi, what happened to your lip? You look like you got hit."  
Harry instinctively pulls his bottom lip in between his teeth. "No nothing like that, I just bit it last night."  
“Well then kiddo, you should probably stop biting it now, shouldn't’ you.” Louis flicks Harry’s lip with his pointer finger right as the bell rings. Louis turns to walk into the building but quickly turns around,  
“Try not to get in trouble today.” Harry can hear his laughter until he disappears through the door.   
…  
The final bell of the day rings and just as Harry promised, he meets Niall by the benches.  
“Harry! Why look how big you’ve gotten! My I haven't seen you in ages!” Niall says in a high pitched voice.   
“Why thank you Niall. Now what have you planned for me this afternoon?” Harry asks.   
“Food, FIFA, music, food.” Niall says  
Harry laughs and wraps his arm around his friend’s shoulders and starts to walk with him to his house. The boys don’t stop talking all the way to the house. Their conversation flows easily but Harry feels like he is hiding something from his best friend.   
Once the boys are in the basement with several sodas, 2 bags of chips and some sandwiches, Harry remembers what's in his pocket. He sticks his hand in his pocket and pulls something out.  
Harry turns to look at Niall and puts on a very serious face, “Hey Ni, Ni,” he starts, he voice slower than usual. “I know that you have been missing me and well I wanted to do something special for you.” Harry is having a hard time holding his smile back at this point, so he opens his hand and lets the little gold necklaces fall out. The necklaces each have half a heart of them, one says best and the other says friends. “So, well I bought us these friendship necklaces so you will stop crying.” Harry holds out the necklaces for Niall to see and starts laughing uncontrollably. When he can finally catch his breath Niall yells,   
“Well it’s about time! I thought you forgot about me while hanging out with Louis all the time. You guys are practically dating.” Niall says. This makes Harry freeze, and before he can think about it he blurts out,  
“I kinda want to have his babies.” Harry’s life flashes before his eyes… What the hell did he just say. His hands fly up to cover his mouth and to shove the words back into his mouth but it is too late...the words are out. Niall is looking at Harry with nothing but shock. Harry is terrified, why has time stopped, why is Niall still staring at him...should he leave.   
Niall bursts into laughter and barely gets out his words, “I don’t think that's how it works, man.” Niall is still laughing but Harry finally starts to breathe. He definitely hadn’t taken a breath for at least 5 minutes after those words slipped out of his mouth. “I thought you would never admit that you liked him, damn.”  
Harry stops and stares again, “Wait what! You knew? How did you know?”  
“Dude, I might not be the super smarterest person in the world, but I’m not blind or dumb, it wasn't very difficult to see that you have a thing for him,” Niall says.  
“What do you mean that it wasn't difficult to tell? Oh shit does that mean that Louis can tell?!" Harry frantically asks.   
“What do you mean can he tell? Aren’t you guys like a thing or something?”  
“No, were just friends. And it doesn't matter cause he has a girlfriend so…”  
“Oh, I didn't know. That's okay though, you can just be really good friends.” Niall says. He turns back to the TV and FIFA continues. Harry’s really confused.   
“Wait, so you’re okay, with, you know. Me, being into guys,” Harry says as if its a question.   
“Yeah man of course!” Niall puts his arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Dude, were Narry. That's like, a life promise. So what if you don't crush on girls. That's cool, that just means more chicas for me...and plus I would be a total jerkface if I had an issue with it, don’t you think?”   
Harry just answers with a smile and picks up the remote to continue losing to Niall in FIFA, again.


	5. December

One day until winter break and Harry doesn’t think he could be anymore excited. He and the other boys are all set to go to the bungalow for the first week of break. They leave tomorrow so Harry is packing at the last minute, as always.   
Packing is hard! Harry thinks to himself. Does this shirt match with these jeans? Wait, yes they do cause Gem said that everything matches with all of my jeans cause there all the same. God, how do girls do this everyday? Okay, okay, I got this. Pants, shirt, boxers, socks, pj’s, toothbrush, blanket, deodorant. We will probably go swimming….crap I don’t have trunks...whatever I’ll just bring Louis’s shorts.   
“Harry, your friend is here!” Harry can hear the yelling and then a murmured, “Sorry hun, what is your name again?” The yelling continues, “Louis! Your friend Louis is here.” shit, I haven’t done anything with my hair, my bag isn't packed, please don’t come up, please don’t….I am gonna send him up to your room.’ shit I don’t even have a shirt on!  
Just as his door is opening Harry gets stuck in the neck of his shirt. Louis opens the door to his room and Harry can see him in the corner of his eye. Like in slow motion, Harry can see a huge smile spread over Louis’ face and can hear the loudest laugh erupt behind him. He struggles even more to get his shirt over his head but it is useless.  
“Well don’t just stand there, help me!”   
Harry can see Louis walking towards him and notices that his smile is turning a little mischievous. “Why would I help you if I could tickle you without you being able to do anything about it.”   
Harry feels Louis fingers get close to his ribs and immediately starts to giggle. He is wiggling to get away from the fingers and maybe to get a little closer to the source of the touch. Finally he can’t take the tickling anymore and starts kicking at Louis.  
Through the laughter from both boys Harry can hear a familiar voice behind him, “What the hell is going on in here. Hazza you were the one who said we had to leave at a certain time and here you are messing around half naked.” Niall’s voice is full of laughter and teasing.   
Somehow Harry’s shirt finally gets pulled over his head and he is staring at Niall’s face and his wiggling eyebrows. His eyes are darting between Harry and Louis and his smile is so big at this point that every single tooth is visible.   
“Now throw your stuff in a bag and lets go. I have a whole bag downstairs that is full of chips and other road trip snacks. Zayn and Liam are downstairs staring at your sister so you should probably hurry before one of them becomes your brother in law.” Niall starts to walk downstairs and from out the door he yells, “Tommo, lets go! Stop distracting him!”  
Louis tickles Harry once more for good measure and runs down the stairs. The younger boy is stuck staring at the door for a second before the throws everything in his backpack and follows after them.   
…..  
The car ride is a mix of yelling, singing and laughing. Louis drives, Harry sits in the passenger seat because he knows where they are going and Niall sits in the middle in the back because, well, he has the food. Every song that comes on the radio is a potential song for the battle of the bands. Louis drums on the steering wheel, Niall makes the guitar riffs with his mouth and Harry can’t stop smiling. He was always upset about having to move to Arizona, but with friends like this and Louis sitting so close to him, how can anything be wrong?  
The drive is 3 hours long and they stop once so that Niall can pee on the side of the road and the boys could stretch their legs. From somewhere in the car, Louis pulls out a soccer ball and the boys start at impromptu game. It is Louis and Zayn vs. Liam and Niall. Harry justs runs around kicking the ball whenever he can because he wasn’t lying when he says he is horrible. After “playing” for 20 minutes, Harry just lays down in the middle of the grass with the ball in his arms.   
Without any warning, Harry feels a body leap on top of him, then another, and another until he can no longer feel each new weight. He just focuses on his inability to breath, both from his chest being squashed and also because of how hard he is laughing. Niall is above him somewhere yelling “dog pile!”   
After a bit of feverish kicking from Harry, the other four boys roll off of him and lay face up in the grass staring at the sky.  
“What if we win, that would be so cool.” Liam is always the focused one; getting the boys to practice and focus on the end goal.  
“It would be sick to win, but I’m just really excited that we all became friends.” Niall is like a puppy, he rolls into Harry’s side and holds up the stupid friendship necklace that he was never supposed to actually wear!  
“You are such a softy Niall, you are going to end up buying us all matching t-shirts aren’t you.” Louis laughs from the other side of Niall as he pokes him in the side. Harry does not stare at Louis mouth when he laughs...he is just following the source of the sound.   
“Lets go weirdos, it is getting late and I would like to get to the bungalow before dinner, Niall will start eating us if we don’t feed him real food soon.” Zayn hasn’t moved, but his words make everyone laugh and start standing up.   
The last hour in the car goes by incredibly fast. Sitting in the van with five people for 3 hours really allows for bonding. Towards the end of the ride, to Harry’s horror, Niall starts a game of “never have I ever.” It isn’t that Harry doesn’t like the game, or doesn’t want to know the boys any better, but he has a few secrets that he isn’t too sure if he is ready to share.   
Luckily before the questions get too revealing, they pull into the driveway and Niall immediately squeals and jumps out of the car.   
“Last one in has to carry everyones things!” he yells. Everyone but Harry, runs to the front door, trying to open it. Harry saunters up to them,   
“You guys know that you need a key to get in right?”  
“Yep! Thanks Hazza!” Niall says and snaches the keys from his hand. He opens the door and they pour in, rushing to claim their rooms. Harry just stands in the door in disbelief. Louis turns around and smiles at him.   
“Aww Harry! Its okay, I’ll help you carry everyones bags!”   
“Haha thanks Louis.”  
Louis and Harry carry in everybody’s bags. When they’re finished both of the boys head toward the last room since the other boys took the first set of rooms. They both get to the door at the same time,  
“Haz,” Louis also picked up on his nickname, “this is my room.”  
“No, this is my room.” Harry says back. Dont make him hate you! Dont make him hate you! he thinks to himself.   
From behind him, Harry can hear Niall snickering, “Early bird gets the worm boys, looks like you will have to share now.” Harry can see the giant grin on his face as he turns back into ‘his room.’  
Harry turns to make eye contact with Louis, but he is already walking into the room throwing his bag on the bed. “I get the right side of the bed!”  
Harry can feel his palms get sweaty, he hopes that Louis can’t see his heartbeat through his shirt.  
“Oh god, you don’t snore do you Curly? If you do I'm gonna have to punch you in your sleep.”  
Just as Harry is about to retort, Liam pops his head in the room, “Hey guys, sorry to break up the couple’s squabble but we really did come here to practice and Niall is about to break into the food at any moment.”  
…  
The boys have been practicing for about 2 hours; every song they heard on the radio and then some. So far, in the running for battle of the bands performance are: Torn, My Life Would Suck Without You, Kids In America, Summer Of ‘69 ,and The Way You Look Tonight.   
It is 6pm and the boys are starting to get hungry, none of them are too excited about cooking at this point so they decide to finish eating all their road trip food for dinner. While they’re eating, Zayn rushes out of the kitchen and goes to his room. He comes back smiling holding up a plastic case.  
“Wanna watch a movie?” he says, now smirking. Niall jumps out of his chair and takes it out of his hand.   
“Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Yes! I love this movie...well I have never actually seen it but I hear it is really good.”  
“Well sit down boys, cuddle in, and I will start the movie. Liam turn the lights off, Harry clothes the blinds, Louis put your shoes back on it smells in here now.” Zayn’s excitement is permeating through the room.   
Louis jumps on the couch, “At least my feet don't smell as bad as Niall’s breath.” he shoots back.   
“Whatever just get comfortable, the movies starting”   
The boys all get comfortable around the TV. Liam sitting on an old recliner chair, Niall and Zayn sitting on the floor leaning against the couch, and Louis and Harry together on the small couch. Harry didn't say anything because he didn't want Louis to make fun of him, but he actually hates scary movies. It’s not so much the movie itself, it’s just afterward he gets really paranoid. Like, turning off the lights and running up the stairs as fast as he can and jumping into bed, paranoid. But he didn't want to seem like a baby so he kept quiet and held his blanket close to his face.   
Harry feels like he is doing alright, there has been a few scary parts but he has remained fairly calm. He keeps his mind busy by thinking about why people in horror movies always make such dumb choices. Just as he is about to pose this question to the whole group, the first murder happens and suddenly Louis is very nearly in his lap!  
Holy shit! Okay, calm down, he is just scared. Do something smooth, calm him down. What do I do? Hold his hand, pat his shoulder, make fun of him. Holy crap he is really close to me...how does he smell so good? Damnit Styles, do something.  
“You ok there baby?” SHIT! That came out wrong! “I mean, um...why are you being such um a baby?” Harry’s voice cracks and he can’t maintain eye contact with anyone, his whole body is sweating and he really just wants to walk away at this point.  
“Shut up Curly, you weren’t even watching the movie.”   
At Louis’ response, everyone breaks into laughter. Harry takes an audible breath to calm himself, but just as he thinking he got away with it, Niall turns to make eye contact.   
“It is okay Louis, Harry really likes babies, don’t you Haz? You always say that you want at least 6. You can practice with baby Louis.’ More laughter ensues, and Harry will kill Niall in his sleep. Slowly and painfully.   
To Harry’s surprise, Louis doesn’t move away immediately, he actually stays plastered to the younger boy’s side the whole time. Harry still refuses to pay too much attention to the movie, but he knows every time something scary happens because Louis jumps a little in his seat. If a little smile appears on Harry’s face it is because he thinks this is funny, not because he thinks it is endearing and wants to wrap Louis up in his arms.   
By the time the movie ends everyone is a bit tired. One by one, the other boys leave Harry and Louis alone in the living room.   
“I am really thirsty, do you want me to get you a glass of water?” This is the first thing Harry has said to Louis since the “baby” incident and he does a really good job of keeping his voice calm if he does say so himself.  
“Um, can you put some water on for tea? I can’t really go to sleep without it. I brought my own.” For the first time ever, Louis looks a little shy when he asks Harry. His eyes are half hidden behind hooded eyelids and he is buried into a huge sweater.   
“Thats adorable.” Again Harry, really? Get yourself together before you do something really embarrassing. “ I mean, yeah sure. I’ll make you some tea.”  
Harry jumps off the couch and scuttles to the kitchen as quickly as his baby deer legs will take him. Just as he is rounding the corner to the kitchen, he hears a voice.  
“Well we gotta do something about that, don’t we.” Zayn’s voice is in a low whisper.  
Harry walks through the kitchen door and all three boys turn to look at him. Their eyes go wide like they were just caught stealing.   
“Hey guys, I thought you were all going to bed?” Harry walks past them towards the cupboard.  
“Um yea, well I am off to bed.” Liam barely finishes his sentence before he is gone.  
“My colored pencils could use a good sharpening, I am going to go um, do that now.” Zayn doesn’t even bother making eye contact and he leaves the room.  
“Um did I miss something Niall? Why are you all acting so strange?” Harry is filling up the kettle but has his eyes trained on Niall.  
“Hazza, you are just being paranoid, we were just getting a midnight snack.” Niall is gone before Harry can say anything.   
Harry doesn't have time to think about what just happened because Louis somehow just apparated right behind him.   
“I brought two tea bags, in case you want one?”   
Harry spins around to see the Louis is no more than a foot away from him. He is wearing a pair of soccer shorts, and a huge sweater. His feet are bare, but obviously cold because he keeps rubbing them together. Harry is again caught off guard by how much shorter Louis is than himself.   
“Thanks Lou. I mean um, yeah sure I’ll have tea.” Just then the kettle blows its whistle.   
“I’ll get it,” says Louis, “Can you find some mugs?”  
Harry searches through cupboards and pulls out two mugs, “Okay I found them. Now, do you want, sparkly Vegas showgirl, or Princess Ariel?” he says with a crooked smile.   
“I think Ariel is calling me,” Louis giggles. He walks across the kitchen towards Harry. Louis trips on his own feet, but Harry lunges out and catches his hand before he hits the floor. He moves the other hand to his back to help him up.  
Without missing a beat Harry starts singing, “I wanna be where the people are, I wanna see, wanna see them dancin', Walking around on those - what do you call 'em? Oh - feet!”  
As Louis continues with the song, he grabs Harry hands and spins him. “Flippin' your fins, you don't get too far, Legs are required for jumping, dancing, Strolling along down a - what's that word again? Street.”   
Harry is giggling uncontrollably as he spins and concentrates on not falling. “Your five sisters obviously helped you be super cool.”  
“What about you, what's your explanation?”  
With a coy smile, Harry answers with a spin and a flip of his curls, “I am clearly a disney princess!”  
After all the tea has been drank, and Harry’s eyes start to droop, the sleeping situation begins to play across Harry’s mind again.  
Louis is washing the two mugs when he turns to look right at harry, “I am getting really tired, ready for sleep?”  
Stay calm Harry, act naturally, stop sweating so much…”Yeah I’ll race you.” Not knowing why Harry takes off down the hallway towards the bedroom. Again Styles, for the love of God, get your shit together.   
Just as Harry reaches the door he feels Louis’ hands on his shoulder. Instead of stopping to turn around, Harry rushes through the door and jumps under the covers of the bed.   
Before Harry knows what is happening, he feels the bed shift under Louis’ weight.   
“Thats not fair, you cheated.” he says. Harry turned to face him and sees Louis pouting.   
“Aww I’m sorry Lou. Maybe you’ll win tomorrow,” he says, teasing. Louis lets out a dramatic sigh.   
“Kiddo, you want me to turn the light off or are you still scared from the movie that you didn’t watch?”   
“I was trying to watch but I had you jumping into my lap every time slow music came on.”  
“Phhh shutup Harry. If you are going to be so mean to me then I’ll kick you out of our room and you will sleep in the living room with all the scary noises.”  
Harry can see the smile that Louis is trying to hide, “Wow, no need to be so mean Old man, if you are going to be like that I am just going to go to bed.”   
“Fine. Goodnight.” Louis says in a huffy tone. He then turns over and switches off the lights.  
Harry is lying on his back staring at the ceiling thinking about all that happened today and how close to Louis he is lying. Just as Harry is about to get caught up in his thoughts, he notices that Louis still has his eyes open and his breathing has not slowed down.  
The boys lay there for another 45 minutes without saying a word, neither one has closed their eyes and no one has moved.   
….  
Harry wakes up in the morning to something tickling his face. He quickly opens his eyes and realizes that it is Louis’ hair that is tickling him. Somehow in the middle of the night the two boys have rolled into each other. Louis’ leg is squeezed in between Harry’s calves and Harry’s arm in thrown over Louis’ back.   
Holy shit. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. This is magical, how did this happen?! I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die in Louis Tomlinson’s arms and I am perfectly okay with that. His hair smells like apples. AWW now I’m hungry. I should probably get up and make breakfast cause I’m probably the only one in this house who knows how to cook. But look at him. He looks like a- like a- I dont even know thats how beautiful he looks.   
Harry takes one more look down at Louis and slowly starts to untangle himself from the sleeping boy. Unfortunately, his first movement seems to shake Louis enough that his eyes fly open. Harry’s green eyes are suddenly drowning in the ocean that is Louis’ eyes. Harry can feel Louis’ breath on his face and he realizes that he still hasn’t succeeded his prying himself from Louis’ warmth.  
It is awkward for 15 seconds until Harry jumps out of bed and nearly shouts, “Well I’m starving, I am going to um go cook something.” As Harry turns to run out the door, he misjudges the distance with his sleepy eyes and smacks right into the door frame.   
Louis looks over at him with a small smile on his face, “Curly I don't know if I'm comfortable with you in the kitchen by yourself after what just happened. Would you like some help?”  
Harry turns to look at Louis who is still cuddled up in blankets, “Yes I would like help but you would have get your lazy bum out of bed first.”   
“Don’t talk about my bum….” Louis jumps out of bed…”race you to the kitchen!”  
Louis races out the door and Harry follows, almost slipping on the hardwood floors with his socks on. When he turned the corner Louis is standing there with a proud smile.   
Harry remembers what Louis said last night, “That's not fair, you cheated, my socks were slippery and you weirdo don’t ever wear socks.”  
“Okay, 1: I did not cheat I’m just better than you, 2: you should know better than to run with socks on hardwood floors, and 3: I was wearing socks, I just took them off before I started to run.”  
“See! Thats cheating!”  
“Not cheating. I was simply planning ahead. Strategizing young Harold, It's how you win.” Louis says as they hear a loud banging echoing through the walls.   
“WILL YOU TWO QUIET DOWN!! ITS 8 IN THE MORNING! MAKE ME FOOD AND SHUPTUP!!!!” Niall’s voice rumbles down the halls.   
Harry looks at the clock and quietly corrects Niall, “It's 10:30 man,”   
Louis looks at Harry and starts to laugh, he jumps up to sit on the counter and folds his hands in his lap. “Alright young Harold, make food.”  
“Yes sir Louis, but what will you do while I slave over this stove?”  
“Watch from up here…” Harry’s drops his smile to glare at Louis. “And cheer you on obviously.” Louis kicks out his legs to poke into Harry’s stomach.   
“Oh thank goodness. What ever would I do without your encouragements!” Harry grabs Louis foot and starts to tickle. Louis’ laughter fills the small kitchen but is interrupted when Harry is hit over the shoulder with a spatula.  
“Okay, okay. I’ll cook. Will you get the eggs and bacon out of the fridge and grab the bagels from the pantry.”   
Harry finishes breakfast at about 11 and plates food for all the boys. “Now that I have cooked, you must deliver the food to the others.”   
“But I’m so comfortable right here! Can’t we just wake them up, they've been asleep forever.” Before Harry can respond Louis is yelling.   
“BOYS!!! GET UP!!! HARRY AND I HAVE MADE BREAKFAST SO COME APPRECIATE OUR EFFORTS!!!!”  
Louis then sees the old dinner bell in the corner and starts to ring it incessantly.   
Before Harry can say anything, Niall comes running into the kitchen and tackles Louis to the floor cursing the entire time. Niall pins Louis on the floor holding him down with a single arm.   
“What is the matter with you! Waking me up at such an early hour!” Niall looks up at Zayn who is stumbling into the kitchen, eyes still half closed, “Some people, look what you did to poor Zayn.”   
“I’m sorry Niall. Go back to bed and the rest of us will enjoy this breakfast buffet.” Louis says.   
“No. I will do just the opposite because I am a rebel,” Niall says as he climbs off of Louis.   
“Yeah only real rebels wear a Teletubbies t-shirt to bed.” Liam snickers.   
Harry steps in and says, with a very serious face, “I like the Teletubbies.”  
Niall jumps over to him, “YESSS!! #NARRY!!” he yells and takes out a little gold necklace from his sweatpants.   
“Hey! This is mine! Where’d you get it from?” Harry asks.   
“When you and Louis were playing with your shirt I took it from your dresser. Here put it on,” Niall look to the rest of the boys and laughs at their faces. “Why do you guys look confused?”  
The boys walk to the dining room where Harry has placed the food.   
“What the hell is ‘Narry’?” asks Zayn.  
“Oh! So when Haz and I decided to start the band we originally named it ‘Narry’. Cause it’s our names combined.” Niall explained.  
“I still don't get it.” Liam says.   
“I’m not explaining this right, Harry help me please.”   
“Oh you know! Like you and I, Liam. We would be ‘Lirry’ Liam and Harry. And Zayn, we would be ‘Zarry’. And Lou, we would be ‘Larry’. Get it?”  
“Ohhh okay.” says Liam.   
Harry looks at Niall. He has a mischievous look on his face and Harry is instantly worried.   
“Larry,” Niall begins, “Larry Stylinson. Has a nice ring to it don’t you think boys?” Liam and Zayn nod, all smirking.   
“I think thats what I’m gonna call you two from now on.”  
Without warning, Louis grabs the plate from Niall's hand, “No food for you!”  
Niall’s face falls into serious pout, “Harrrryyy…..make his give me my food back.” Niall’s whine is the most pathetic thing Harry has heard in years, but Louis’ grin is nothing short of jaw dropping so he takes the plate out of Louis’ hand and holds it high above his head so Niall can’t reach it.   
….  
After breakfast, the boys decide that it is time to practice a little more and decide on a set list. After a few hours, they decide to take a break. Liam takes out his laptop and goes to the website of the contest.   
“Hey guys. Come look at this,” he says pointing to the screen. “They posted a new addition to the contest. Its called ‘Best Original Song’.”  
“Woah really,” says Zayn.  
“Yeah here listen. ‘Because of the many entered bands, WAST104.7 has decided to add another category to the battle of the bands competition. The new category will be for a Best Original Song. There will be a prize of 1,000 dollars and a chance to record the selected song. Keep in mind that any song entered that was not originally written by the band, each member will be immediately disqualified from the entire competition.” Liam finishes, leaving the boys in awe.   
“Oh my gosh! Guys we could totally win this! Imagine if we win this and the overall competition. We could be known all over!” Niall exclaims.   
“I agree with you Niall, but does anyone even know how to write a song?”asks Zayn. Then, as if it was rehearsed, everyone turned to Harry.   
“What? Why are you all looking at me?” he asks.   
“Hazza we all know that you write songs. Unless that little brown book is diary.” Niall says, giggling at that last part.   
“Um, well, yeah I guess. I mean I’ve written a few songs but they’re not good enough for Battle Of The Bands.” Harry stutters.   
“But they're good.” says Louis.  
“What? How do you know?” he asks. Suddenly worried that he looked in his journal.  
“Well you said they're not ‘good enough’, so that means they have to be good. At least a little bit, right?” Louis presses.  
“You know that's not what I meant Lou. I just dont want to enter the song and have us lose. Then I would feel like it was my fault. And, the only one that I have isn’t even finished. So, no. I think we should write the song together.” Harry sighs when he finishes.   
“Okay but can we at least hear what you have. Maybe we can help you finish it?” says Liam.   
“Yeah, we're smart. We’re not just a couple of good looking guy who can sing,” says Zayn. Everyone laughs but eventually they turn back to Harry.   
“But seriously Haz, go get your little diary and show us what you’ve written.” says Louis.   
“Urgh! Fine. But you guys have to promise not to laugh at me cause its a love song,” he whines. He looks at Niall as sees him smirk.   
“Awww Harry wrote a love song! Who’s the lucky lady?”asks Louis.   
The room goes quiet and awkward. Niall, Liam, and Zayn are trying, but failing miserably, to conceal their grins. Finally Niall breaks the silence, “He claims it was for his neighbor back in England, but I have my suspicions.”  
“Okay, well I’ll be back.” Harry says and spins on his heels toward his, and Louis’, room.   
Holy shit if those boys say anything to Louis I will kill them. Well not really cause like, the law and stuff but still. What did I get myself into. Niall already figured out that I written the song about Louis and he hasn't even heard a single line. Whatever that doesn’t even really matter. The only thing that matters is Louis not finding out that the song is about him. Which will be impossible because I already wrote down ‘you can't go to bed without a cup of tea’. God Harry why did you have to write a song about him. What if he finds out that you like/love him? Then things will be all awkward between us and it’ll ruin the band and-  
“Harry hurry up! We haven't got all day!” yells Zayn. He can hear them laughing from across the house.   
“I’m coming! If my roommate wasn't so messy I could do this a lot faster!” he yells. But surprisingly no response from Louis. Harry grabs his journal and makes his way back to the living room. But when he gets there, the room is empty. He looks around for a while and ends up in the backyard. Through the glass doors he can see the boys jumping into the swimming pool.They don’t see him yet so he just stands there. His eyes fall on Louis as he climbs out of the pool, dripping wet.  
Holy fuck he’s fit. How did I get so lucky to be friends with him. I don't think this is healthy for me, I should go out there, but then they might get me wet I don’t want my journal to get ruined. Louis is out of the pool again. Look at his back! He has little dimples! That's adorable. Wait wait wait…   
Harry grabs a pen from a coffee table and starts to write. Speaking the words out loud as he writes them down “I know you never loved the crinkles by your eyes when you smile you’ve never loved you stomach or your thighs. The dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine, but I’ll love them endlessly. And then it'll go to the chorus.” he clears his throat and begins to sing, “I won't let these little things slip, out, of my mouth. But if I do, its you, oh its you they add up to, I’m in love with Lou. And all his little things.”  
“Holy shit man that's amazing!” Zayn yells, scaring Harry to death. He didn't even see him come through the door. Thank God it was just him and not the others.  
“Zayn what are you doing in here! You weren't supposed to hear that! Please don’t tell the others! I dont want them to hear it until I’m 100% sure that it's done. That was just the last part that I needed, but please don’t tell them. Especially Louis.” Harry rushes.   
“Woah Harry calm down I won’t say anything. Promise. But that was amazing. You should probably change the ‘his things’ though. I could never write something like that, really. How long did it take you to write the whole thing?”  
“Um, well I started it about two weeks ago but I kind of put it to the side because I started working on another one. Still a love song. It’s just more up beat.”  
“Two weeks,” Zayn says, clearly surprised, “man it would have taken me months to write that for my girlfriend.”  
“Margarita?” asks Harry.   
“What, ew no gross! She’s like my best friend,” Harry displays a face that looks hurt, “who’s a girl.” he explains.  
“Oh okay”  
“Yeah but, what’s this other song you’ve been working on? What's it called?”   
“Um, Strong. I kind of only have the chorus right now soo..”  
“Can I hear it?”  
“I guess. Um okay.” Harry starts to sing, “ I’m sorry if I say I love you, but I dont care I'm not scared of looove. Cause when I’m not with you I’m weaker Is it so wrong is it so wrong, that you make me strong.”  
“Wow tha-”   
“Zayn what's taking so long!? I thought you were going to make hot coco?” Louis asks as he closes the door behind him.   
“Yeah but then I saw Harry on the floor here and I just wanted to make sure he was okay, right Harry.” Zayn says nervously.   
“Oh alright but just this time. I am in strong need of a warm chocolaty beverage.”  
“Yes Mr. Tomlinson,” he groans. Zayn gets up and gives Harry a ‘good luck’ look and heads to the kitchen.   
“So Harold, what are you writing in your diary. More songs for your long lost love?” Louis asks, teasing.   
“Um, yeah sure. I guess you could call, them, that” he stutters.   
“Well, aren’t you going to let me listen? My opinion is very valuable you know.”  
“Um, I dont know. It’s not very good. And I only have the chorus and it’s not very long.” Harry says, trying to think of more excuses as he talks.   
“Harry, you and I both know that those are not very good reasons. Why don’t you want me to hear your song?” he asks. The room becomes so quiet that Harry can hear Zayn all the way in the kitchen. It stays that way for a few minutes and Harry tries to look anywhere but Louis’ questioning eyes. Finally he decides what to say,   
“I know they’re not good reasons Lou. It’s just that, that, I really do value your opinion and I would be absolutely gutted if you didn’t like it” because it’s all about you, “so I’d rather not share it with you until it’s finished,” he explains. Louis thinks about this for a moment, looking at a family photo on the table. After a few seconds, he turns and focuses his topaz eyes on Harry’s.   
“Okay, I get it. But what if there is a part that I don't think sounds right? Then I could help you fix it before you get too far in the song. Or maybe I can help fill in some of the lines with stuff. That could be a lot of rewriting if we wait 'till the end.”   
“Oh, I never thought of that. Well, um, I guess, I’ll let you read it.” Harry grabs his journal and flips to the right page. “Um, here it is, just read that part though.”  
“What! No, you have to sing it. I dont know the melody, so I might misjudge something that really amazing.” he pleas.   
“Dammit Lou! Stop being right. Urgh fine. Okay, here it goes.” Harry takes a deep breath and clears his throat. He looks straight into Louis’ eyes and begins.   
“I’m sorry if I say I love you, but I dont care Im not scared of looove. Cause when I’m not with you I’m weaker is that so wrong, is it so wrong, that you make me strong.”  
When Harry looks up he sees that Louis has flipped through his journal and has started reading a different page. Harry is suddenly panicked. “See I told you it wasn’t that good, you couldn't even listen to the whole thing.” Harry focuses his gaze on a spot on the floor to avoid Louis.  
Harry looks up and sees that Louis is staring at him. Louis take a step and bends down to show the page of the journal that he has been reading. “It isn’t that that song wasn’t amazing it is just that I accidentally flipped the page and started reading this song and well...um...it is absolutely beautiful. The detail in this song, about all the little things that you love about this person is heart wrenching. We should do this song Harry.” Louis hasn’t stopped staring at Harry since he started talking and Harry is having a hard time looking away.   
Just as Harry is about to say something incredibly profound, or confess his love, Niall pushes open the sliding door and bursts into the living room followed closely by Liam. Before Harry knows what is going on, Niall and Liam grab harry by the arms and feet and starting carrying him to the pool.   
“1...2...3..Heave!” After Niall’s countdown, Harry feels himself splash into the pool and sink under. Harry has never been so happy to be thrown in a pool before. He debates just staying underneath the water the rest of the time they are at the bungalow. It will stop him from saying anything stupid, and it will help him avoid another awkward night of sleeping next to Louis.   
His dreams of hiding are quickly smashed when he feels someone grab his foot and pull him through the water. He hopes for a second that it is Louis, but notices that the hand wrapped around his ankle is too big to be Louis’ hand. Instead it is attached to a spiky haired boy who used to be his best friend before he was set on ruining Harry’s life. There is a crash above him in the water and he sees Louis’ body sinking down on him wrapped in a cannon ball. Harry kicks his legs against the bottom of the pool and shoots to the top and takes a deep breath of air. All the boys are in the water now and Zayn is hitting everyone with the pool noodle that he found somewhere.   
Once Harry has taken in the scene, he is quickly reminded of the heavy soaking wet clothes he still has on. He swims to the small ladder on the wall of the pool and hoists himself up. He runs to the lounge chair that Zayn is now sitting on and pulls off all his clothes and throws them on top of him.  
As Harry turns around to jump back in the pool, he sees Louis looking in his direction and then quickly whip his head around and grab two pool noodles from Zayn. He runs towards him and throws one to him. Thinking the same thing, they start ‘sword’ fighting. Harry slips on water and crashes into the pool. He can hear Louis laughing as he swims to the surface. He was about to say something when he feels someone lifting his feet again. He twists his head and sees Niall and Liam pushing him up, flipping him over. At that moment Zayn and Louis decide to jump on top of the other three boys and hold them all under water while screaming into the water creating the muffled mermaid sound from Harry Potter.   
The boys play in the pool for a bit longer until Liam, the constant voice of reason, decides that it is time to go back to practicing.   
“But we haven’t even had lunch yet.” Niall adds as he rolls up his towel and whips it across Liam’s butt.   
“Go grab yourself a snack, cookie monster, and we will meet you in the den for more practice.” Liam grabs Niall’s towel and wraps it around his head as he walks back inside.   
“You know he will kill us if we don’t win right?” The look on Zayn’s face makes it very clear that he is not kidding. “That kid doesn’t do anything half-way, he got 2nd at the 8th grade science contest as a 7th grader, and argued until they gave him first.”   
“I am just glad he is on our side then.” Louis says with a laugh. He turns to look at Harry. “Better hope he likes your songs Curly or he wont let you breath next time he throws you in the pool.”   
Harry finds himself getting even more nervous as he walks into the den. Liam is already sitting behind his drums playing the beat to an old Wheatus song when Zayn starts humming along. As if on cue, Niall runs in, "I love this song!!!.” He grabs his guitar and starts singing,   
‘Her name is Noelle, I had a dream about her, she rings my bell.” the song is familiar to him but he doesn’t know all the words so he just watches as the rest of the boys join in. The boys play through the entire song and Harry jumps in on the final line, “Oh, yeah, dirtbag, no, she doesn't know what she's missin.”   
“Well boys, I think we figured out our song for battle of the bands.” Louis is rubbing Liam’s head, “good choice man.”   
The smile is still on Liam’s face, but he has stopped cheering with the other boys,  
“alright, alright it is all good that we have one of the songs but we need to practice it a lot more. Let's run it through again right now before we lose our enthusiasm….1...2...1,2,3,4.”  
Liam starts playing and Harry hustles to get his bass over his shoulder when Louis hands him his phone. Harry looks down to see that Louis has googled the music for ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ for him.   
Once the boys have played ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ about 25 times since Liam said, “This is the last go through boys,” Niall starts complaining about the blisters on his fingers and calls for a short break so that he can gain feeling back.   
The boys all run off to go to the bathroom or grab a soda but Harry stays in the den and pulls out his notebook to keep writing. If I told you that I’m here for you, maybe you would love me too...no that sounds dumb, I don’t need him to love me. I just want him to be happy, no matter what. maybe you’ll love yourself, like I love you. Harry is staring at the words that he just wrote and he feels like crying. He knows he is an emotional person, hell he cries during almost every disney movie, but writing music just pulls something out of him. It is so cathartic, it feels like he just ran a marathon. He is about to lay back on the ground when he becomes suddenly very aware of someone standing behind him and looks up to see Louis staring down at him from behind. Louis eyes dart from Harry’s down to the page that he was writing on. Harry looks down at his journal and quickly closes it.  
“Why are you so embarrassed by your writing Haz?” Louis sits down on Harry’s side but turns to face him straight on. “It's absolutely beautiful, you should be proud of it.”  
Harry doesn’t look up, his knuckles are turning white from how hard he is gripping the journal.  
Louis’ voice drops almost to a whisper, “Will you sing it for me?”   
The curly headed boy starts to look up and say something but is interrupted by Liam. “You should sing it for all of us Harry. If we are going to perform it, we need to all know it.”   
Damn Liam and his constant need to make everything about this competition and winning.  
Harry stands up and opens his journal. The other boys sit on the couches and face him. Harry’s palms are sweaty and his fingers have gone numb from squeezing so tightly. He coughs slightly to try and break up his nerves. He has never been this nervous to sing in front of people before. He has written tons of songs before but none like this, he has never written something so true before and then been forced to sing it to that person. Harry looks up and sees four pairs of eyes staring at him. Louis is smiling and giving him a thumbs up. Harry smiles back and takes one more deep breath and begins to sing quietly.   
“Your hands fit in mine like they’re made just for me, but bear this in mind, it was meant to be.”  
His voice is rough and lower than usual but harry thinks that it fits with the song pretty well.  
“And I'm joining up the dots with the freckles on your cheeks, And it all makes sense to me. I know you've never loved the crinkles by your eyes when you smile, You've never loved your stomach or your thighs. The dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine. But I'll love them endlessly.”  
Harry starts to get more excited as he is singing and looks up again to see three pairs of eyes staring at him. Where did Louis go? Did he figure out the song was for him? Did he hate it and leave?  
Harry keeps singing but looks back down at his journal. Just as he gets to the chorus, Harry hears the keyboard start to play behind him. He turns his head and sees Louis’ brow furrowed and his bottom lip stuck between his teeth but he is playing along with Harry’s voice like he had heard the song in harry’s dreams with him.  
“I won't let these little things slip out of my mouth. But if I do, it's you, it's you, they add up to. I'm in love with you and all these little things.”   
Harry gets through the part about the tea and then voice on tape. He smiles through his latest line about Louis loving himself and as he finishes the last line “I’m in love with you, and all your little things,” Louis joins in and the piano fades in the background. Harry can’t look at Louis yet, so he looks up at his friends on the couch. Niall is smiling and clapping, Liam is nodding his head with a smile on his face and Zayn, what is Zayn doing? Harry looks a bit closer and sees that Zayn is actually wiping a tear from his eye.   
“Well Harry, that was quite good, I think we will use that for battle of the bands.” Liam pats Harry on the back and walks back to his drum set. “I’m not sure where drums will fit into that, but we will make it work. Do you have parts for the other instruments thought out?”   
“Um, well no not really. When I sang it out loud I imagined a guitar but that's it really.”  
“Dude, Liam chill for a second. Let’s congratulate Harry a bit more for the amazing song he wrote and then we can go back to drill sergeant Liam.” Harry has never heard Niall so serious before, but he appreciates it. He is not really ready to think about the song yet. He is still trying to get over Louis playing back up to a song that was written for him.  
Harry hasn’t even worked up the nerve to turn around and look at Louis yet, and Niall notices. He walks up behind Harry and starts to rub his head. “That was really lovely Harry.” His voice drops so that only Harry can hear him. “Whoever you wrote that about is a very lucky person.”  
“I hope I didn’t ruin your song by jumping in like that, I just heard a melody in my head and I needed to get it out before I forgot it.”   
Harry turns to look at Louis and without thinking, he grabs Louis in his arms and pulls him into his chest. “You didn’t ruin it! It made it so much better. It is like you were in my head!” Harry realizes that he has started to ramble and hasn’t let go of Louis yet so he loosens his arms and pulls himself away to cough into his arm.   
“I had been hearing the melody in my head for awhile and it just seemed to work out. I'm glad you liked it.” Louis still has his hands on Harry’s shoulder and he is staring straight into Harry’s eyes.  
Niall sneaks between them and puts his hands on each other them. “It's like it was meant to be or something...probably fate.”  
Sometimes when Niall wants to help Harry out and break up tense moments he does really well, other times, like now, he makes it so much worse.  
Harry can feel the blush on his face growing, “Ha yeah fate, good one Ni, I am going to go get some water and then we can work out the music for the song if you guys want.” Harry is out the door before anyone can respond.  
Deep breath, deep breath. I just urgh. Like I get that Niall’s just trying to help but, fate? Louis totally knows now. And If he can't tell then I am questioning how he made it to senior year. Gosh I wish I could just go to bed. The bed! I'm gonna have to sleep in the same room as him and if he’s not going to be uncomfortable than I am and if he’s gonna be awkward then I’m gonna be even more awkward and that's never good. I should just probably just tell him that I like/love, him but more love. But he’s going out with Lindsay, and what if he’s not okay with me liking him. Then everything will be weird during practice. What if after Battle Of The Bands he quits the band, them it’ll be all my fault! What if he deletes my phone number, then will I have to delete his?   
Harry’s monologue is interrupted by Niall walking up behind him and hugging him. “Hey Hazza, you ok? You look like you just saw a ghost.”  
Without thinking Harry puts his two giant hands on Niall’s chest and pushes him backwards, “What the hell Niall, fate? You couldn't’ have made it any more uncomfortable. You are the only one who knows how much I like him and you are supposed to be my best friend but right now you are like totally throwing me under the bus mate! You are supposed to help me, not make it worse. It was bad enough that I had to sing that song in front of him but then you had to make it into some damn fate shit. Now we are going to have to sing that song like 1,000 times, probably more because Liam is never satisfied, and every time I will be stuck thinking about Louis and how he probably knows my deepest secrets and is terrified and or disgusted by them!”   
Harry’s voice is starting to raise and his hands are clenched tight around each other. “I will have to sing about how much I love him, so much that I don’t even care if he loves me back! Damnit Niall, how am I going to do this?” Harry can feel the tears starting to form in his eyes, so he looks up into the light to try and stall them.   
Niall doesn’t say anything, he just wraps his arms around Harry and rubs his back. Finally, Niall pulls out of the hug and looks at Harry, “Hey man, sorry I made it worse, I thought I was helping. As for the song...it is amazing. Whether you wrote it for Louis or for your cat. I will help you anyway you want. If there is a line that you don’t want to sing, I will take it. If you want me to go in there and tell them that I hate that song and refuse to play it, I will. Just let me know what you need. “  
Without even thinking Harry looks at Niall and whispers, “I need you to take the 4th verse. I can’t sing that without losing it. It is my favorite line, so I want someone to sing it who knows how important it it. Will you do that for me?”  
Niall laughs, probably to help ease the moment, “Is this like one of those moments in the movies when the two friends are going to war and the one guy promises to marry the other guy’s wife if he dies?”  
“I’ve never seen a movie like that. Must be one of those weird American things.”  
“Well fine weirdo, we will watch a movie like that later, but now we have to get in there and sing about your soon to be husband.” Niall waggles his eyebrows and pokes Harry in the stomach.  
“Don’t be an arse Niall, no one likes you right now.” Harry heads back into the den with his game face on.  
Niall runs past him, "Everyone loves me Curly, don’t lie to yourself, its not healthy.”   
“I’m surprised that you know what the word healthy means Niall”  
Before Niall can argue back, Liam stands in the middle of them and puts his arms out, “Okay boys, enough playing. Battle of the bands is in a little less than a month and we really need to figure out this song.”  
Niall just laughs and pats Liam’s shoulder. “Yeah Liam is right, I was thinking about how to make the song work in our group and I think if we just used guitar and have Louis play piano, we could break up the parts of the song and really focus on our singing.” Harry looks around and makes quick eye contact with Louis. he quickly adds, “I mean if you guys think that is okay.”  
Zayn hands harry a guitar, “Sounds great man, you take guitar and Ni, Liam and I will look at the lyrics and sing.”  
Harry is about to argue about playing the guitar but Niall comes in first, “Awesome! Dibs the 4th verse, the one about loving yourself enough…I um, just remember that verse the best and I liked it.” Niall winks at Harry and he hopes that no one saw.  
“Great, thanks Ni.” Harry looks at his lyrics and starts picking spots for everyone to sing.  
Once all the parts are divided out, Louis jumps in, “Harry you should sing the last chorus, it is your song and the emotion you sing it with, well, it will definitely win the judges over.”  
Harry looks up and gives Louis a shy smile. “Yeah sure, I can do that.”  
“Great lets try it out.” Liam grabs Harry’s journal and the other boys and drags them to the couch.   
“Okay, Zayn you start, Harry you know the melody so play until you’re ready and nod to Zayn when it's time to start. Zayn do you remember how it goes?” asks Liam.   
“Yeah I got it, just que me Harry.” says Zayn. Harry nods and begins to play with the strings. After the introduction he nods to Zayn to start. His voice clear and soft, almost cloud-like.   
“And I’m joining up the dots with the freckles on your cheeks, and it all makes sense to me.” Zayn stops and looks up to Liam who harmonized with him on the last line. Liam smiles at Zayn and looks at Harry.   
“How was that? Did you like the harmony? I thought I could sing next.”  
“Yeah that was great Liam. Then you guys could sing the chorus together, yes?” says Harry. Zayn and Liam look at each other.   
“Yeah that sounds good mate.” nods Zayn.   
“Great,” says Liam, “so who should sing next?”  
“I’ll do it,” volunteers Louis. Everyone looks him, including Harry. “I mean I’m the only one here who drinks tea, other than Harry. Unless you want to sing it.” he offers Harry.   
“Um, no it’s okay you can take it, I’ll go after you, and then Niall can sing his verse.” says Harry, unable to make eye contact with Louis.   
“Okay then. Why don’t Zayn and I start and then Louis you start, then Harry. Sound good?” asks Liam. Everyone nods and Harry begins, nodding to Zayn when it's time. He starts, then Liam. Harry is amazed when they sing the chorus because of how beautiful their voices sound when combined together. Harry keeps his head down while they are singing but rises when he hears Louis’ voice fill the air.   
Louis’ high voice brings Harry’s lyrics to life in a way that he couldn’t have imagined possible, “You can’t go to bed, without a cup of tea. And maybe thats the reason that you talk in your sleep. And all those conversations are the secrets that I keep though it makes no sense to me.”   
From behind him, Harry can hear Zayn giggle softly and whisper to Liam, “That’s funny because he does talk in his sleep, I’ve heard it.”  
Harry grows nervous, what if the other boys figure out that it is about Louis. Wait, why does Zayn know he talks in his sleep. When did he sleep with Louis? Suddenly Harry’s mind is overtaken by the thought of Louis sharing a bed with someone else. Louis talking to someone else in his sleep. Harry’s mind is wandering so much that he completely forgets to come in on his line. He only notices when Louis elbows him in the side. “Um, pretty sure that is your line Harry, unless you have rewritten the song in the past 60 seconds.”  
“Um, sorry. Can we start over from Louis’ part?”  
“Yeah go ahead,” says Louis. Harry begins playing and is instantly mesmerized when Louis sings.   
This time they make it throughout the whole song. And if Harry does say so himself, it sounds amazing. Each of the boys have added a little extra to each line to really show off their own skill. The boys compliment Harry and Louis’ playing by saying how well they fit together even without practicing.   
Harry isn’t sure if he likes everyone saying how well he and Louis fit together; but he will take it if it makes Louis continue to smile like that. The crinkles by his eyes are even more prevalent now when he is a little sunburned from being outside this morning.   
The boys play through the song a few more times until no one needs to look at the music anymore. During the last run through, all the boys sit on the floor in a semicircle with Louis on one side and Harry on the other. As Zayn starts off, Harry realizes that he is just staring at Louis but can’t look away. Louis is switching off between serious and goofy through his whole set of lines and Harry is sure that his fond is showing. When Harry’s part starts, he just stares at Louis, or um Louis’ piano, and sings about the crinkles that are showing up on Louis face, and the dimples on his back that make Harry’s smile grow even bigger.   
Thankfully, Niall is back to being his best friend and clears his throat and Harry snaps out of his Louis trance just in time to sing the final chorus of the song.   
Even before the final chord is played, Niall is standing up and jumping on the other boys, “We are going to win this shit for sure!” He is rubbing his knuckles over Harry’s head now but hasn’t stopped yelling. “Like seriously, we are really good. We have this edgier rocky song and then this amazing love song, all the girls are going to go crazy for us and the judges are going to melt in their seats.”  
The puppy puddle of boys slowly dissipates and all the boys are lying on their backs staring at the ceiling still laughing and trying to catch their breath from Niall jumping on them. Zayn is the first to break the silence, “Um so guys, this is great and all but I think we need a name for the band.”   
“Damn Zayn, you don’t talk a lot but when you do, it is pure gold man.” Niall says this like there is nothing truer in the world. Then, because Niall can’t stay too serious for very long he adds, “I mean I was hoping you were going to say that is it all great but you are really hungry but, I’ll take a name too. As long as we can start eating soon. We haven’t eaten since lunch at it is almost 9 now. I think my stomach has started to eat itself.”   
Louis is laughing again and throwing a pillow at Niall, “Jesus Niall, you break up such an adorable moment between a bunch of friends because your garbage can of a stomach can’t go more than 5 minutes without being fed. You would probably stand up in the middle of a wedding and ask when dinner was.”   
Niall throws the pillow back but looks at Harry when he says, “Only yours Tommo, only yours.”  
Harry looks between Niall and Louis a few times and then starts to stand up, “Well, I am going to go get the burgers ready for dinner, Liam will you turn on the barbecue? Niall you go put some music on. Zayn and Louis will you set up the table outside and get drinks for everyone?”  
Niall salutes Harry with a “yes sir,” and everyone starts walking away. Everyone except for Louis.   
Louis has looked up from putting his keyboard back where it was before everyone moved to the floor. “You need any help in the kitchen Haz?”  
Harry turns and looks at Louis very seriously, his hands are knotted behind his back and he stares straight into Louis eyes, “Are you sure that is a good idea Lou, you weren’t very helpful for breakfast and this time there will be knives involved.” Harry’s serious face breaks into a full belly laugh.  
“Shut up Curly, I am great with knives actually, and I was incredibly helpful this morning. You were going to go to all the work of bringing everyone breakfast in bed but I made that so much easier by just waking everyone up.” Louis walks up to Harry and grabs his arm, “Now lets go so you can teach me all about tomato cutting and potato salad making or whatever you were going to do in there.”   
Thirty minutes later, all the food is laid out on the picnic table outside; there are enough burgers to feed a small army, all the necessary fixings, homemade mashed potatoes (thanks to Louis, it is the only thing he knew how to make), fruit salad and fresh baked brownies with M&M’s in them.  
“Where did you even find M&M’s?” Is the first thing that Niall says with his mouth full of a little bit of everything. He doesn’t wait for a response before he shoves more food in his mouth and asks Liam to pass the lemonade.  
“I hid them from you. I knew if I put them in the cupboards you would find them and eat them.” says Harry.   
“Smart boy you are Hazza.” says Louis. “If you hadn’t hid them, we wouldn’t have these delicious brownies that I helped bake.”  
“Lou, the only thing you did to help was open the package,” Harry laughs.   
“Pshh, Whatever Harry.” Louis says.   
“Wait! Niall, when you registered us for Battle Of The Bands, what did you say our name was.” Liam asks.  
“Um, #Narry. Why?” he says through a mouth full of food.  
“Really Niall?” Liam asks, exasperated.  
“What! When I signed us up it was just me and Harry. We hadn’t decided to have the auditions yet, so I just put down #Narry. I can still change it if you have a better name.” he says.   
“Hold on.” Harry turns to Niall and says, “we decided to have auditions when you told me about the competition. So that doesn’t make sense.”  
“Well, I sorta kinda, signed us up before I told you.”  
“Niall!”   
“Well I was sure that you’d agree to it. And if you didn’t, then I would say that I already signed us up.” Niall says sheepishly. Harry opens his mouth to say something but Zayn cuts him off.   
“Whatever, we can change the name, so we have to come up with something good...maybe something with ‘the’ in front of it, all great bands have ‘the’ in front of of it.”  
The boys take turns throwing out different nouns to name the band: animals: ‘the pigeons’ is a top runner; feelings: ‘the fortunates’ is Zayn’s favorite; even geometric shapes. Niall is pretty set on the ‘The Pentagons,’   
"Cause you know there are five of us."  
Liam gives his nod of approval to ‘The Pentagons,’ and that is enough for the boys to agree and continue to eat all the food on the table.   
Once the table is clear and Niall, Zayn and Liam cleaned the kitchen the boys (mainly Liam) decides that they should play through their songs one more time, but his request is interrupted by Niall.  
“Liam we can practice a million more times, I promise, but right now I want to go on a night hike. There is an amazing lake a few miles away and we should walk there.”   
The boys scamper off to their rooms to put on some warmer clothes, shoes and grab any flashlights they can find around the house, except for Niall who puts snacks in his pockets.  
Louis catches Niall putting Goldfish in his pocket, “Dude, this isn't Hansel and Grettle, we don’t need bread crumbs to make it back.”  
Niall continues stuffing things into his pockets, “Dude, shut up. 1. you never know what is going to happen out there in the wilderness and 2. I am a growing boy and need to eat.” After popping a few goldfish in his mouth, Niall walks towards to door and shouts to everyone to hurry up.   
There are three flashlights among the group so Louis, Zayn and Liam decide to carry them. Harry knows his way and Niall is too busy eating to hold anything.  
The beginning of the path is completely open so the boys walk in a large pack, except for Harry who has caught a second wind and is now skipping around doing pirouettes while the other boys laugh at him. Niall eventually jumps in by asking Harry if ‘he can have this dance,’ and takes his hand and starts to spin him in circles. Harry continues to spin until he is spun directly into a tree. It has gotten darker and the path has narrowed a lot.   
Harry drops to the ground laughing, still incredibly dizzy from all his spins (he never learned how to spot correctly). Harry lays on his back staring at the stars for a while to reorient himself and feels four other bodies lay down next to him. Harry turns his head and sees Louis’ eyes meet his. Harry and Louis just look into each other’s eyes for a few moments until there is a loud rustling sound next to them and then laughter. Harry can tell by the sound that the other boys have gotten up and run away, while laughing maniacally. Harry is too content staring at Louis to care or move at this point, he star-fishes out dropping his arm across Louis’ chest.   
“I love stars. Do you know that the stars that were are looking at are probably already dead or burned out and it just takes years for the light to get to us?” Harry is only half looking at the stars but he felt it was necessary to say something.   
Louis star-fishes his body across Harry while he begins to talk lazily, “I did know that, I can also name for you the constellations that are visible right now and the planets….like that right there,” Louis points straight up, “is Venus.”   
“You are going to name a constellation for me, Lou? That is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.” Harry starts to laugh halfway through his comment. He likes playing with Louis, but he would name every star for Louis if he could.   
Louis is laughing too when he finally answers Harry, “If I could bottle every star for you and make it into a necklace, I would.” The laughter from both boys stop for a second while they just stare at eachother. They stare at eachother for a few more seconds without saying anything but the silence in broken from the sound of laughter in the distance.  
Louis starts to get up, “We should go find them. They took the flashlight so we are walking blind right now.”   
Harry rolls onto his stomach and chides, “Well it is good thing that you aren’t afraid of the dark now isn't it Lewis.”   
Louis laughs uncomfortably, "Haha yeah. I’m a senior in high school, of course I’m not afraid, of the dark.”  
“Wait. Lou, are you afraid of the dark?” Harry says, trying not to display how adorable he thinks that is.   
“Pshh, no. Well, maybe a little bit.” he confesses.  
Stop being so freaking adorable Louis.   
“It’s okay Lou! I’ll protect you from the-” Harry is cut off by something running across the path ahead of them. Louis screams and grabs Harry’s hand and puts it to his chest, pulling him close to by a pulling his side. Louis entwined their fingers and his grip continues to get tighter. Harry can feel Louis’ heart beating from where he is standing.   
Harry grips tighter and smiles.He turns to look at Louis, “Hey Lou, Lou look at me. It’s okay. Calm down. It was probably just a raccoon or something. Look once we get out of these trees we will have a lot of moonlight for the rest of the walk.”  
Harry can hear Louis trying to slow his breathing down.  
“Um, yeah okay. But, can I, still, like um. Hold on to your arm, I,I mean your hand?” Louis asks shyly. Which surprises Harry. You can hold onto me for the rest of our lives and never let me go.   
“Yeah of course Lou. And, like I was saying before, I’ll protect you from the wilderness!” Harry makes his voice unusually deeper, balls his free fist, places it on his hip and looks fiercely into the distance. Harry is very careful not to move the hand that is laced in Louis, he doesn’t want that feeling to end. Louis laughs and makes dramatic music with his mouth.   
“Thank you Mr. Styles.” Louis frown slowly starts to grow back into a smile, and he has yet to move his hand. “Shall we start walking now, I mean you lead and I will follow. You are bigger than me so you will scare off any of the bears that try to eat us.”   
Harry starts to walk, pulling Louis behind him. “Bears don’t just try to eat people Lou.” Harry stops when he remembers how much longer his legs are than Louis, he gives him the extra step so the two boys are walking side by side with their fingers intertwined. As they get closer to the bungalow, the trees clear up and the moonlight lights up the trail.   
“Wow this is really beautiful.” Louis has stopped walking and his head is thrown back looking at the stars. Harry can’t be bothered to look at the moon, he is staring right at the stretch of Louis’ neck and the vein that is present.   
“It really is beautiful” Harry murmurs mostly to himself. I could write songs just about how the moonlight bounces off his face, I could write poems about the shape of his body when he leans back like this, I could spend the rest of my life trying to draw a picture that encompasses half of the beauty of the person in front of me. Holy crap Harry has been watching too many romantic comedies. Before Harry’s mind can continue thinking of the million ways that he could worship Louis’ beauty, his hand is being pulled.   
Once Harry and Louis make it back the the bungalow the other boys are sitting out front waiting for them. Before anyone says anything, Harry catches Liam and Niall glance at the entwined hands in front of them and then look at each other with a smile. Not knowing what else to do, Harry drops Louis’ hand immediately and takes step towards Niall.  
From the corner of his eye, Harry can see Louis looking between Harry’s face and his empty hand. “You wankers, why did you leave us like that and without a flashlight. We could have died and then you would have to come search for our mangled bodies.”  
Niall glances between Liam and Zayn with a smile on his face, “Sorry man, we thought it would be funny. I mean it seemed to work out alright.” Niall’s eyes move to Harry’s left hand, but shift quickly back to Harry before Louis could see, hopefully.  
Louis still hasn’t said anything, but starts to walk inside without everyone. Harry is the first to notice, “Louis what’s up? Where are you going?”  
He doesn’t even turn to answer, “Um, yeah, I am going to go take a shower or something, I uh, walked through some spider webs. You guys start a movie and I’ll be out in a bit.”   
Once Louis is inside, Harry grabs NIall by the arm and pulls him away from the other boys. He whispers through gritted teeth, “What the hell Niall, could you make it more obvious? “  
Niall is smirking, “Hey man, don’t pretend to be mad, I obviously was an awesome wingman, you were holding his hand.” Niall’s voice is a little too loud in Harry’s opinion.  
“Shut up dude, everyone is going to hear you if they haven’t already figured it out based on all the stupid smiles and staring you just did.”  
Harry doesn’t notice that Liam and Zayn have walked up behind him, “Hey Hazza, don’t worry, I don’t think Louis knows.”  
And what?! “What are you talking about Liam?” Harry is glaring at Niall still.  
Zayn pops into the conversation, “I don’t think he knows that you like him, we didn’t mean to upset you , we were just trying to help.”  
Double what?! ‘we were...we were...’ “What do you mean ‘we were trying to help?' How do you both know?"  
Liam puts his hand out on Harry’s shoulder and starts to speak,“Well Niall told us-”  
And with that Harry turns away from the boys, “Shit, Niall, can you really not keep a bloody secret. I am so mad at you right now, I could punch you. I am going to go pack now and we are leaving tomorrow, I don’t want to be here with you guys anymore.” Harry slams the door behind him once he gets inside.   
Harry storms to his room and slams the door. He grabs his bag and throws it on the bed, shoving all his stuff into it. Why did he think this was a good idea? Why would Niall tell them, they will obviously tell Louis and it will all be over. Harry lets out a loud groan as he throws his beanie into his duffel. He crashes down onto the bed, just as Louis walks out of the en suite bathroom wrapped in a towel.   
How did Harry forget that Louis would be in there? Why is Louis standing in a towel right now. Could his life get any worse?  
Louis coughs to get Harry’s attention, “Hey Hazza, you ok? You seem pretty pissed. What happened? “ Louis tightens the towel around his waist and starts walking towards Harry. “Why are you packing? Are we leaving?”  
Harry is too mad to have this conversation but really doesn’t want to upset Louis, “Yeah well I think so, I just got in a pretty big fight with the guys and you seemed upset before so I just thought it might be time to head home.”  
Louis doesn’t miss a beat, “What did you get in a fight over? I was only gone for few minutes.”  
Harry’s mind starts to race. What do I tell him, do I tell him the truth? No you can’t tell him the truth. But what if one of the other boys already told him or he figured it out because of how damn obnoxious Niall was being. That's probably why we left like that. I could tell him that Niall just told a secret but that is super cryptic. Maybe I just say that I was really mad about them leaving us, that makes sense. Wow the night could in fact get worse.   
“I was just really upset about them taking off on us and you being afraid of the dark, it just wasn't cool.” Harry is trying to convince himself that what he is saying sounds believable.  
Louis sits next to Harry on the bed. Would it be appropriate if I asked him to put a shirt on right now? “Haz, don’t be mad about that. I had fun with you, I thought we were having a good time together, you and me. And plus, you saved me from the dark so it was all good.” Louis hand is now on Harry’s knee and there are no longer actual coherent thoughts in Harry’s brain.   
Harry just nods for what feels like a lifetime. “Let me put some sweats on, and then we can go out and and watch a movie with them and if you still want to leave afterward we can go. I will even pack everything up for you. We will sit on the small couch away from the other boys and pretend they aren’t there if you want.”  
Harry still doesn’t feel like smiling but he finally looks up to make eye contact. “Come on man, don’t make me beg. I really don’t want to go home yet and I like being here with you...and all the guys.”   
Harry sighs and gives in, “Fine. I’ll go watch a film, but only if you sit the closest to Niall.” he says with a pout.   
Louis’ face breaks into a smile as he flicks one of Harry’s curls, “Yay! I promise, I’ll even make you tea just because you saved me.” Louis then jumps off the bed and puts clothes on. Harry gives him a small smile as he exits the room. He lets out a giant sigh and flops back on the bed.   
Okay so that wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be, so maybe he really doesn’t know. Good. But one of those damn boys will probably tell him and then we will have to leave. I really want to, I don’t even like being away from home. It’s all Louis’ fault. I only mentioned this place so we could hang out and practice more without anyone being suspicious. God Styles you really suck sometimes you know that?  
While Harry is still deep in thought, there is knock on the door and Louis sticks his head in, “Come on Curly, I made the tea and we put the movie on. I even kicked Niall off the loveseat.”   
Harry groans as he gets up and quickly changes his jeans for a pair of trackies and takes the tea from Louis and follows him into the living room. Louis sits on the far side of the small couch and pats the side next to him motioning for Harry to sit down with him. “We are watching The Hangover tonight so you don’t have to close you eyes the whole time.”  
Harry sits next to Louis and leans close to him to whisper, “Me close my eyes? You were the one who jumped in my lap, scaredy cat.”   
Louis’ eyes light up and a smile appears on his face, “Maybe I was just cold and wanted to sit closer to you, every think of that smart one?” Louis voice is even quieter that Harry’s.   
The movie starts and both boys sip their tea and laugh at all the appropriate parts. Half way through the movie, Louis pulls his short legs up to cross his legs under him. The couch isn’t quite big enough for it, so his right knee is resting on Harry’s thigh and the heat feels like it will leave a permanent scar on his leg.   
Once the movie is over Harry decides that he is going to go to bed. He nods a goodnight to the other boys because even though he is still mad, his mum taught him manners. He tells Louis that he will see him in a bit and Louis says he’ll be in shortly.  
Harry doesn’t like the idea of leaving Louis alone with the other boys but he really just wants to lay down. Once in the room, Harry goes to brush his teeth and put his duffel back on the bench in the corner of the room. He pulls down the duvet and crawls into bed. He turns to switch off the lights but thinks better of it and just lies staring at the few remaining stars that are on the ceiling of the room.   
Not even 5 minutes later Louis quietly sneaks into the room. Harry flips over so he is looking at him, “I am still awake, you don’t have to tiptoe around."  
With no other sound, Louis takes three running steps towards the bed and jumps on top of Harry. Harry lets out a loud groan and wiggles underneath Louis to try and take a breath.   
“Get off you hobbit!”   
Louis looks down at Harry and says, “Did you just call me a hobbit!?  
“Yes, yes I did. Now get off of me.”  
Louis rolls off of Harry but lays on his side so they are still facing. “I am not a hobbit, first of all: my feet are lovely, second of all: I am not that short.”  
“You are love…” Before Harry even knows what happens the words are out, he just called Louis love. Maybe Louis will just think it is british thing and think nothing of it.  
No such luck, “Love huh? Well then I will just call you Pumpkin...so Pumpkin, maybe you are just unusually tall.” With that Louis lets out a grumph and turns the away from Harry.   
Harry is laughing, “Pumpkin, ha, that’s awesome. I like pumpkins and pumpkin pie. I make a fantastic pumpkin pie. “  
“Don’t think you will make me forgive you by talking about pie right now! It’s not helping, It is just making me hungry.” Harry can feel the bed vibrate a little with Louis’ giggles.   
“Aww I’m sorry Lou. Dont be mad at me. I’ll bake you pumpkin pie when we get back. I’ll even let you put as much whip cream as you want.” Harry tempts him.   
“Fine. Only because of the whip cream.” Then, out of nowhere, Louis flips back towards Harry and leans over to give him a hug.  
Louis’ tiny arms wrap around Harry, and his face fits on top of Harry shoulder. “Goodnight Hazza. Thanks for staying.”   
Harry can barely move, let alone say anything, so he just squeezes back a little and creates the most affirming sound that he can muster. It comes out more like a grunt, but he thinks Louis gets the point. Louis lets go and rolls back over to his side.   
Somehow Harry falls asleep, but is soon awoken by someone's sticky hands shaking him. He opens his eyes, about to say something but the person covers his mouth and whispers “Harry, it’s me and the boys. We have to talk to you, just follow us. Don’t wake Louis.”  
Niall, Harry thinks. He doesn’t say anything, but looks down. Louis’ arms are wrapped around his waist and his head is resting on his chest. He sighs and carefully picks up his arms. When he finally detangles himself, he slips on his shoes and follows the boys. They lead him through the living room, outside by the pool. Once Harry closes the door behind him he finally talks.   
“Niall, if you woke me up at 2:30 in the morning to go swimming I will punch you all in the face.”   
“Harry I know you’re mad at us but please, just sit on one of those fancy expensive outdoor chairs and let us explain.” Niall says. Harry grunts and sits on the chair, then nods at them to continue.  
“Okay, so when we first went to your house to pick you up we all went up stairs to get you. Then we heard you and Louis playing so I told them to go say hi to your sister.”  
“Wait, you told them to go see Gemma,” he looks at Liam and Zayn. “I swear to God if either of you try anything with her I’ll kill you. Like, actually kill you!”  
“Dude, I’m sorry I didn’t mean it like that. But listen. I heard you guys first and told them to go. So I played it cool and told you guys we were leaving and I thought. ‘I have to help them get together.’ But I knew that I couldn’t do it by myself. So… I told Liam and Zayn that first night in the kitchen and they said that they were thinking the same thing, but they just didn’t want to say anything. And… you know what happened after that.” Niall takes a deep breath and gives Harry questioning look.   
“Well, I can’t be mad at you for trying to help me. But you should have asked me if you could tell them. I appreciate it that you're trying to help, but you guys are just so obvious about it.” Harry sigh and looks at three of his best friends in front of him.   
“Haz we're sorry. Are you still mad at us?” asks Liam.   
“No. I’m not mad. But I still want to go home. I think I’m going to get sick from eating junk food all week,” he laughs.   
“Awww! I knew you couldn’t stay mad for too long.” says Niall. “Remember Narry is a life promise.” Niall says as he swing his arm around Harry’s shoulder.   
“Is it bad that I still get confused for like 5 seconds whenever you two say Narry." asks Zayn.   
The boys all go in for a hug. Harry is tucked in between the other three boys and with a groan he explains, “It's nice that you want to help but like, we all know he has a girlfriend so what is the point.”   
Zayn is the first to let go of the hug and stare at Harry, “What girlfriend are you talking about?”  
“Lindsay of course, haven’t they been dating for like years.”  
Zayn erupts into the the loudest laughter Harry has ever heard from him, “They have been like best friends since they were 4. There is absolutely no way they are dating, I know this for two reasons: 1: Louis is my best friend and he would tell me and 2: She is like his sister, or like one of his sisters. Why would you think they are dating?”  
Niall claps Harry on the back, “And you are back in the game!” Niall is nearly doing a high kick with his excitement.  
“Just cause he isn’t dating Lindsay, doesn’t mean he wants to date me Niall.” Harry will not tell the boys that he his incredibly relieved about his new information.  
“Who wouldn’t want to date you man?” Niall grabs harry around the neck. “You are adorable and you write the cutest love songs.”  
And with that, Harry pushes Niall into the pool with a loud splash. Liam and Zayn are laughing too hard to notice Harry walk up behind them and push them in right after Niall. The boys are splashing Harry, making him laugh uncontrollably. He bends down, trying to stop his stomach from hurting but falls face first into the water. Damn his clumsiness.   
The four boys splash around in the pool for a few more minutes until a half asleep Louis walks outside wrapped in a blanket. His hair is smashed to one side of his head and his eyes are barely open. There are probably little pink hearts flying out of Harry’s eyes.  
As Louis rubs his eyes underneath his glasses he starts to talk, “What the hell is going on out here? I heard noise, so I woke up and Harry wasn’t there so I decided that you guys probably kidnapped him and tried to kill him.” Harry pops out of the water after Niall pushes him down.   
“Yeah they’re trying to drown me by saying that they were going to apologize but here I am being killed! Save me Louis!” He is running at Louis with goal: grab him and throw him the pool. Unfortunately, Louis seems to read his mind and is much quicker than Harry and side steps out of the way.   
“What do you mean! You tricked us and shoved us into the water first!” Liam yells. Liam’s interruption makes Harry forget his previous mission and turn back around.   
“Yes Liam, but I had a good reason to. It was the only way of saying that I am officially not mad at you guys anymore. What was your reason?” he asks, smirking.   
“We didn’t do anything. You fell.” Zayn says with a straight face, making everyone laugh.  
Louis who had been silent this whole time finally jumps in, “Well you are all crazy and you are going to get sick and I will do nothing but laugh at you the whole time. I am going to go back to the nice warm bed and staying healthy.” With that Louis goes back in the house.  
Now that all the boys know about Harry’s crush there is no use hiding his thoughts, “Well boys, that is my cue, I have a nice warm bed and a free cuddle coming my way.” If Harry skips off, he will not admit it.  
Right before he gets to the door, he feel a soaking wet nerf football hit him square in the back. Niall is laughing as Zayn dunks him again.  
Harry has no idea how long the other boys stay in the pool, he doesn’t actually care. Once he arrives back at his and Louis shared room, he slowly opens the door so he doesn’t wake up Louis. Once the door is open, he can see that the light is still on and Louis is wrapped up like a burrito. Waddling his way to the bed, Harry smiles and runs towards him, tackling him on the bed.   
“Harold get off me! You’re soaking wet! Urgh!” Louis small body squirms under Harry. Harry laughs as loud as he can. “Harry you’re getting everything wet and I’m not going to be the one to wash the sheets.”  
“But Lou! I just wanted to cuddle!” Harry says before he can think about it. And surprisingly, he didn’t care.  
“Then go put on different clothes and I will cuddle you, shit” Louis tries to make himself sound angry but Harry doesn't believe it.   
Without hesitation, Harry jumps off Louis and grabs the first thing he finds, which happen to be Louis’ soccer shorts and one of his t-shirts and throws it on.   
“There! Now will you cuddle me...I’m just so cold!”  
“Harry you still have your wet cloths under MY dry clothes.”  
“Boo! You make everything so complicated Lewis you know that.”  
For the first time, Louis pops his head out of his burrito and looks directly at Harry. “Harold please, you are going to catch pneumonia and I will have to take care of you and I am pretty sure you will just be a giant child about it. Now go in the bathroom and dry off. When you get back, I will share my blanket with you.”   
Again with the skipping, Harry should really practice walking. Once he is dry, he puts Louis’ clothes back on, because well...they were closer. He is suddenly really nervous about this cuddling, he was talking such a big game but he isn’t sure if he can actually walk out of the bathroom and climb under the covers with Louis.   
“Harry, holy shit, what are you doing in there. Hurry up.” Louis yells from the bed.   
And with that Harry walks out of the bathroom towards his burrito wrapped friend. He stands in the doorway of the bathroom for a second, thinking about how incredibly adorable Louis looks wrapped in his little purple blanket. Suddenly Louis flips around and pokes out his small hand and waves, signaling Harry to lay down with him.   
Harry’s confidence returns as he happily saunters toward Louis. He jumps onto the bed and pulls the covers to their chins. Louis gives Harry part of his blanket to wrap around himself, forcing the two of them together. Harry wraps one of his arms around Louis’ back pulling him closer and using the other one to hold the blankets in place. He looks up to see soft blue eyes smiling at him, crinkles even more prominent than before. They lie there for what feels like forever. But Louis’ eyes begin to slowly close. He rests his head perfectly in the curve of Harry’s neck. After a few minutes he feels Louis’ breath evening and smiles at the boy hugging his waist. Before Harry can gather his thoughts, his eyes begin to droop and he his soon asleep.  
…..   
Hours later Harry’s eyes slowly open, adjusting to the sunlight pouring into the room. He lets out a loud yawn but quickly stops himself when he feels Louis stir. He shifts his head and looks down at the beautiful boy lying with him.   
Holy shit what is happening. Harry, Harry calm down, don’t wake him. Oh my gosh this is so perfect. Look at him. This is amazingly horrible. I mean I love that Louis is in the band and we get to hang out and cuddle in bed like this, but this really sucks because I don’t know how much longer I can stand being so close, but so far away at the same time. I think my heart actually hurts, is this what love feels like because this is not how it happened in The Notebook. Well, maybe the social differences but that's not the point. I don’t even know if he’s into guys, or girls, or both. What if it's both, then he’ll definitely find someone better than me forget-  
“Harry? What time is it?” Louis half whispers.   
“Afternoon Lou. It’s 2:45.” Harry whispers into his ear.  
“Harry why are you whispering?”  
“Because you are clearly half asleep,” he teases. Louis tries so sit up but fails miserably. Harry is glad, he isn’t ready for them to move just yet. Neither does Louis because they lay together for a while longer. The others must be sleeping too because it’s so quiet. Harry thinks. And he loves it because it isn’t awkward silence, it is comfortable silence. For the first time he doesn’t feel like he has to talk to fill the emptiness.   
“Hey Harry,” Louis says quietly.   
“Yes Louis?” I don’t wanna get up yet!  
“Will you make me food? We haven’t eaten all day and I think my stomach’s caving in. I’ll even help to make it go quicker.” Louis say very seriously.  
“Okay, only because I’m hungry too. And we both know that you will end up on the counter picking a slice of bread or something.” says Harry as he starts to get up.   
“Yeah, you know me to well.” says Louis proudly.  
“Whatever, come on.” Louis and Harry go to the kitchen and checks the cupboards. Finding pancake mix, and cereal.   
“Well good thing were leaving today, were just about out of food.”says Harry.  
“How much do you wanna bet Niall has snacks stuffed between his mattress.” asks Louis.   
“I will bet you one free hug!” says Harry. “I swear I am the best gambler ever!”  
“Well I wouldn’t go around telling people that Curly. It’s kinda illegal,” warns Louis. Before Harry can respond Niall, Liam, and Zayn come stumbling through the doors. Each of them sniffling and coughing with bags under their eyes and bright red noses. Harry skips over to them and boops each one of their noses saying,  
“Good. Morning. Rudolph.” he giggles. Just as he finishes he begins to sneeze like crazy.   
“Oh God. Please tell me that you are not all sickly!” says Louis.   
“It’s all Harry’s fault! He pushed us all into the pool! Blame him,” Zayn says through a stuffy nose.   
“Yeah but you three chose not to get out of the pool. I got out shortly afterward.”says Harry.  
“Yes well it doesn’t matter whose fault it is because you all have the same outcome. Now come on, Dr. Tomlinson will make you feel like you’re not dying until we get home.” Louis says as he moves the group of ill boys to the living room. He brings out blankets from a closet and hands them out, giving Harry the largest and fuzziest.   
Once Louis leaves the living to go make the boys breakfast, all eyes immediately fly to Harry. Niall, with his giant mouth is the first to talk, “So Hazza, how were your free cuddles last night?” Niall’s making wiggly eyebrows again, Harry will shave those off, and Liam is actually giggling.   
None of this makes a difference to Harry, he is still on cloud nine from Louis’ body heat pressed up against him. “Holy shit, it was absolutely wonderful, I can’t even put it into words.” Harry doesn’t ever remember himself talking so quickly, even his voice is a little higher that usually from his excitement. “I am going to marry that kid and marry him hard.” With that Harry throws out his arms and collapses his head into Niall’s lap.   
Niall rubs his head, well for a little while because then he has to use that hand to cover his mouth while he coughed. That was Harry’s cue to sit up. “I am glad Hazza.”  
Liam jumps in now, who knew that this boy would be so invested, “So um, are you going to tell him you like him?”   
Harry hadn’t thought of that, he never actually intended on telling Louis how desperately in love he was with him. “Um I haven’t thought about it.”  
Zayn’s eyes are literally piercing a hole through Harry now, “Um, just semantics, but how are you going to 'marry him hard' if you can’t even tell him that you like him? “   
“Ooh good point Zayn!” Niall is nodding like Zayn just said the most insightful thing. “Yeah Harry how will you have his babies if you can’t tell him you like him?”  
Liam coughs out a laugh, “Have his babies?”  
Harry really needs to reassess his friendship with Niall, “Yeah the first time he told me that he liked Louis all he said was, ‘oh my god Niall, I want to have his babies!” Niall’s voice had gone up a least three octaves when he was mocking Harry and that just didn’t make sense.  
Before Harry could refute anything that was said, there was a loud crash in the kitchen followed by a barrage of cuss words. Without even thinking Harry jumped off the couch and ran towards the kitchen, still wrapped in his blanket.   
“Lou, are you okay?”   
Harry has to hold in laughter because the sight in the kitchen is way too funny. Louis is covered in pancake mix, there are bowls all over the floor, a cracked egg on the ground and the pan on the stove is smoking.   
Louis whips his head around, “I told you I couldn’t cook! I was getting the pancake mix down from the cupboard but you tall people put it up to high and then I dropped an egg while I was getting the carton out, because the damn recipe said I need eggs! For fuck’s sake, they are supposed to be instant pancakes! Then I was trying to find a whisk and a bowl and well that is when you walked in!” Louis throws his hands up in desperation. “I am just going to make you all tea and toast and you will like it!”  
He doesn’t know how it happened, but Harry is lying on the floor laughing uncontrollably. His laughter is echoing around the whole kitchen and his stomach aches from all the contractions. Harry looks up just in time to see Louis throw a giant handful of pancake mix right into Harry’s face. Harry sputters and shakes his head to clear his mouth and eyes from the powder. At least Louis has started laughing. Harry would do anything to listen to Louis laugh for the rest of his life.   
Pulling himself up by Louis’ legs, Harry finally stands facing Louis. “Alright Lou, no worries. I will stay in here and help you make the pancakes.”  
“But Harry you are sick and I am supposed to take care of you, plus you will probably sneeze in the pancake batter and we will all die.”   
Harry jumps up on the counter, still wrapped in his blanket and hands Louis a whisk, “Then I will sit here and talk you through everything.”   
Louis’ eyes meet Harry’s and they go soft, “Thanks.” Louis’ smile is small but affectionate. “What do I do first?”  
Harry talks Louis through cracking eggs, measuring liquid verse measuring the pancake mix, he even grabs Louis’ hand when he asks, “How do you whisk?”   
There is no extra talking, just Harry slowly and patiently talking Louis through every aspect of pancake making. He even convinces Louis to cut up the leftover bananas and put them in the batter. “Just like the Jack Johnson song!”   
Once Louis has effectively sprayed the pan with Pam, Harry tells him to use the measuring cup and pour that batter slowly onto the pan. He waits until he sees bubbles and then explains to Louis how to flip the pancake. “Go slow Lou, just maneuver the spatula under the pancake and then flip your wrist over.” Harry is too distracted by Louis tiny wrists to notice when the pancake splatters all over the pan and the stove.  
“God damnit!” Louis is about to throw the spatula across the room when Harry jets out his long arm and gently grabs Louis around the elbow. “Hey, you did great. The first pancake is always a throw away. Haven’t you heard that?” Harry grabs what remains of the pancake off the stove and juggles it in his hand until it cools off. he breaks off a piece and puts it in his mouth. “Mmmm, this is the best pancake I have ever tasted Lou. You should be proud.” Harry rips off another piece and hands it to Louis.  
“You are a horrible liar, but I appreciate it right now.” Louis takes the pancake and puts it in his mouth. While Louis chews, Harry can see the pride rising in Louis face. Louis makes the rest of the pancakes with few errors and in a few minutes follows Harry into the living room with a giant plate of pancakes.   
The boys scarf down the pancakes and thank Louis profusely. They all decide that it would be a good idea to go home today, so after showers and packing everyone shoves into the car. Liam, Niall and Zayn take the back seat and Louis’ drives because he is the only one who can promise to stay awake.  
The car ride is quiet, only Harry’s music plays through the speakers. Twenty minutes into the ride, Harry turns around to the sound of snoring and sees that three boys are fast asleep in the back of the car. Liam has his head pressed to the window and Niall is asleep on his shoulder. Zayn has Niall’s arm in between his and pulled up to his chest like a teddy bear. It is so adorable, that Harry can’t resist but take at least 15 pictures. If nothing else, it will be great blackmail...or their first album cover. Whichever comes first.  
Harry’s iPod is on shuffle and so far it has stayed pretty neutral, playing some classic rock and current indie music but when The Beach Boys come on Harry is mortified. He really likes this song, but it isn’t exactly the song he wants playing when he and Louis are sitting quietly practically alone in the car.  
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn’t have to wait so long, And wouldn't it be nice to live together, In the kind of world where we belong…”   
Before Harry can change the song he notices that Louis is humming along. “I really like this song.” he says during a vocal break.   
Harry is pretty sure he will be a puddle on the floor at the end of this song. Louis is staring at the road and swaying his head back and forth to the music. Louis starts singing along and Harry digs his nails into his thighs just to stop from swooning.   
“After having spent the day together, Hold each other close the whole night through.”  
With nothing else to do but die in the car, Harry starts singing along with Louis. They harmonize the last ‘good night baby, sleep tight baby’ and the song ends. Harry’s heart is beating out of his chest and he feels a desperate need to tell this beautiful boy in front of him just how wonderful he is. He wants to pull down the sun and give to Louis. He wants to make Louis laugh and sing everyday. He wants to grab Louis’ hand and never let it go.  
“Um Lou…” Harry’s voice is just above a whisper.  
Louis turns and looks at him, the smile hasn’t left Louis face since the song ended. “What up Hazza?”  
Spit it out, just say it. What’s the worst thing he can do? He can’t actually run away you are locked in a car together. He can’t yell, he will wake the others. There is only a little more than an hour left in the car, I can sit in silence that long...oh god, here is go. “ I um, like you.” Harry says the last two words like they were burning a hole in his mouth.  
Louis smile grows and Louis turns to look at Harry. He is smiling, holy shit he is smiling. That is a good sign, should I grab his hand, should I kiss his cheek, oh my god I think I forgot how to breathe. “ I like you too Harry,” Yes that is it, Harry’s life is complete. He can die a happy man now. Grab his… “I like all of you, I am really happy I joined the band.”   
Harry's lungs feel like a deflating balloon. Harry notices that his hand is moving towards Louis and he tugs it back so quick that he is sure that it popped out of the socket. Harry’s heart is in his throat, he might vomit. Fortunately, he could blame the pale face and vomit on his sickness but it would be a lie. How could he be so stupid. Of course this beautiful boy would never like him back. This is far worse that Louis getting out of the car and running away.  
Harry feels a hand on his thigh, “Harry, are you ok? Are you feeling alright? You just got really pale and glassy eyed.”  
The younger boy looks up just long enough to force a smile, “Yeah I’m fine, I think I'm going to close my eyes for a bit.” Harry turns to face the window and he can feel warm liquid escaping his eyes.   
Harry thinks he is doing a good job keeping his sniffles quiet but when he feels the car pull off the road he knows that it didn’t work. He hears the car shut off, but doesn’t take his head off the window. Warm hands grab both of his shoulders and Louis presses his chest into Harry’s back. His head is resting on Harry’s shoulder and all Harry can think about is the snot dripping from his nose. He is still wearing Louis’ shorts but luckily he put on his own sweater so he wipes his nose.   
Louis voice is soft and his breath tickles the hair on Harry’s neck, “Harry what’s wrong? Why are you crying? Did I do something?”  
Harry just shakes his head, he isn’t ready to look at Louis yet. His heart already feels like it is broken but if he looks at Louis he is afraid that it will shatter.   
“Hazza, please look at me. You are breaking my heart looking so sad. Please tell me what I can do to help.” Louis voice is almost as desperate as Harry feels. Louis left hand softly touches Harry’s cheek and turns his head around. Harry refuses to look up.  
Louis’ tiny thumbs are wiping tears away from Harry’s eyes and Louis’ touches feel like they are burning Harry’s face. Harry finally raises his eyes just enough to meet Louis’ and what he finds is even more heartbreaking. The light that usually radiates off Louis is gone, his mouth is turned down and his beautiful blue eyes have turned to grey. There is sadness there and desperation. How did Harry do this to someone. Why is he so selfish? He put it in the song, he doesn’t need Louis to love him back, he just needs Louis to realize how amazing he is.   
Harry sits up straight and wipes his eyes, with all the power he can muster, he looks at Louis and grabs his face. “I’m fine Louis, really. Sorry, you were right, I am just a big baby when I get sick. Don’t look so worried for me. I will wrap myself if blankets when I get home and will be all better. You did nothing love.”   
Like it was scripted Louis’ smile returns, “You promise pumpkin? Would you tell me if I did something?”  
Whose idea were the nicknames? “You know I am a shit liar Louis.”   
Before he knows what is happening, Louis is pulling Harry into a tight hug, it would be uncomfortable if it was anyone else. Harry can smell his shampoo on Louis and takes a deep breathe. Life won’t be that bad if he can continue to hug Louis.  
“Why are we stopped at the side of the road and why are you two hugging like someone just died?” Niall is awake, and if the volume of his voice is any indicator the rest of the boys will be up in a second.   
Harry says the only thing he can think of, “Bugger off Niall, Louis had to pee so we stopped and then we were so excited that you were asleep and not talking the whole way that we hugged. Now shut up and go back to sleep.”   
Louis is quiet the rest of the drive home. Harry doesn’t mind. He keeps stealing glances at Louis through the corner of his eye just to make sure the blue is still there. It is a little dimmer, but at least the grey is gone.


	6. February

Who thought having a battle of the bands on Valentines Day was a good idea? Obviously it was the same evil being that convinced Harry that singing a love song to his band mate would be a good idea. The band has practiced a lot since the bungalow and Harry can get through the whole song without staring at Louis most of the time and he has only slipped on “his things’ once. Luckily, Niall is the only one who says anything to him about it.   
The Pentagons are set to go on last, so they have about an hour left before they play. There are a few bands before them who are really good, Harry actually enjoys listening to them until he remembers that they are his competition.  
Eight bands before they need to be on stage. Niall and Zayn go to go get food, Liam has been warming up for at least three days and Harry finally finds Louis standing in the back sipping on a drink watching the bands.   
Harry walks up to Louis and stands next to him staring at the stage. “Hey Lou, how are you doing?” Harry can hear his voice shaking and this time it isn’t because of Louis.   
“I’m good, I did a lot of theater growing up, I like big crowds, they make me really excited.” Louis is looking right at Harry when his face falls. “Harry are you ok? You are kinda shaking.” Louis puts his hand on Harry’s shoulder  
Harry tries to nod, but he can feel his heart pounding out of his chest. “I have never been on stage in front of this many people, I think I’m a little nervous.” Harry’s low voice cracks on every other word. His palms are getting sweaty and his chest is getting tight. The sounds around him are too loud and people are standing too close. He really needs some fresh air.  
Without saying anything, Harry turns towards the door and runs. He is sure that he pushes at least five people out of the way, but if he doesn’t get outside now, he will probably pass out on the floor. Once Harry pushes the emergency door open the fresh air hits him like a ton of bricks. The sun is set low in the sky and it is making Harry’s eyes burn. Harry presses his pointer and middle finger to the point under his right ear and tries to count his pulse to calm down. It isn’t working, Harry drops to his knees in front of the plants just as he begins to vomit. His hands are pressed hard into the cement parking lot while he tries to take deep breaths in between dry heaves.   
Without warning, Harry feels a warm hand rubbing his back, Louis voice is soft and calm, “Hey Hazza...Harry. Deep breath Harry. I got you. I am here with you. Listen to my voice, I got you, you are going to be fine, trust me.” Harry wants to trust him, he wants to fall into Louis’ arms and let him hold him, but he can’t move. He is stuck to the ground. If he moves he doesn’t think he could hold his body up.  
Louis’ hand hasn’t stopped rubbing his back and his soft words are still floating around Harry’s head. Louis puts his hands on Harry’s shoulders, “Hey love, sit back, I got you. You are safe, I’m here. “ Harry starts to sit back, slowly. Louis doesn’t let go of Harry’s shoulders until he is seated in front of him staring at the side of the building. Louis grabs his hand and places Harry’s two fingers on his neck. “Here focus on my pulse, focus on stealing it from me.” Harry can feel Louis’ pulse through his neck and he focuses on it. “Okay now focus on your breathing.” Harry takes in a few deep breaths and closes his eyes. After a couple of minutes, he opens them and sees Louis’ eyes, soft and concerning.   
“I think I’m okay now. Thanks.” he says  
“Good. Now do you want to tell me what that was about?” Louis asks. Harry is quiet for a while.  
“I just got really scared. I used to get panic attacks a lot when I was a kid but I hadn’t had one in a while.”  
“Why didn’t you just tell me Haz. You know that you can talk to me about anything.”   
“I know Lou.”   
“You know, you can let me take care of you sometimes.” Louis says. A small smile creeps on to his face.   
Harry realizes that his hand in still on Louis’ neck and Louis’ hands are still on his shoulders. Suddenly every part of his body that is touching Louis is on fire. How can this amazing boy be so perfect, how is he so calm and caring while Harry throws up and shakes. If it was possible to fall more in love with Louis it just happened. He looks straight into Louis’ eyes and sees that Louis is staring right back at him. Their faces are close, too close. Harry can feel Louis’ breathe on his face. He can actually feel Louis’ pulse pick up through his fingertips. Louis’ grip on his shoulders tightens and Harry releases the breath that he has been holding onto.   
“Holy shit guys, we are on next. Hurry up.” Liam interrupts a world that only consisted of Harry and Louis. Liam grabs Louis by the arm and pulls him through the door. “Harry, hurry up, wipe off your pants, you look like you have been rolling around in dirt.” There is no amusement in Liam’s voice, he is pissed.   
Harry quickly stands up, still a little wobbly on his feet, and follows Louis through the door and to the stage. The other boys are standing behind the curtain holding their instruments, when Harry walks up.   
Niall’s smile looks like a cartoon character, “You ready guys? This is what we have been practicing for!”  
All Harry can do is nod. It was a great choice to do ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ first, there is no way he could get through ‘Little Things’ right now without crying or worse confessing his love.   
There is warm breath on Harry’s ear, “You good now?” Louis’ voice warms a spot in Harry’s chest, he turns to make eye contact and says yes.   
Once his eyes meet Louis’ and he sees the worry in Louis’ eyes all Harry can do is hug Louis. He reaches his long arms around the smaller boys body, his mouth is at ear level which is perfect. “ Thank you,” is the first thing Harry says, but his thought isn’t over. “...for being you.” Harry pulls away and looks at the boys.   
“Ready?”` Liam is actually bouncing up and down and stretching his arms out like he is about to go into a boxing ring. Everyone nods. “Put your hands in.” Liam thrusts his arm into the middle of the circle and encourages the others to do the same.  
“What are we saying?” Zayn asks  
Harry thinks for a while and finally says, “Push on three.”  
All the boys huddle in closer and put their hands in the middle, then in unison “1...2...3… push.” Their arms circle around each other’s backs and they pull in close for a proper group hug.  
Next thing Harry knows he is standing on stage with his four best friends in front of at least 500 people getting ready to perform. Liam obviously takes the initiative to introduce the band.  
“Um hey everyone, we are “The Pentagons!” We are super excited to be here. Our first song is “Teenage dirtbag” by Wheatus. He runs back to his drum set and starts the rhythm.   
Harry’s gravely voice starts the first line and the audience starts to cheer. His nerves are disappearing as his excitement grows. Before he knows what he is doing, Harry begins dancing around on the stage. He skips over to where Niall is singing and shares the mic with him for a while before he notices the smile on Liam’s face so he has to go interact with him.   
Harry swears he can hear the girls swoon during Zayn’s falsetto in the middle of the song, and he just starts to laugh.   
By the end of the song, Louis is the only person that harry hasn’t interacted with. He sets his eyes on Louis and starts walking towards him as he sings. As Harry gets closer, Louis turns as smiles at him. The smile says everything, it says how happy Louis is, it asks if Harry is ok, and there is something else there. Once Harry gets to Louis’ mic, they are staring at eachother. They sing the last line into the mic together, “No HE don’t know what he’s missing…” Wait what? Did Louis just mess up the lyrics? Why is he still staring at me? Did he do that on purpose. Oh god my heart is beating like crazy again, this can’t be good for my heart…  
Liam’s voice breaks Harry’s monologue, “Thank you thank you, our next song is an original song written by our bass player, Harry. It’s called Little things. We are going to change set-up a bit, I hope you like it.”   
Harry is still staring at Louis, when Louis finally talks. His voice is quiet and calm, “Hazza, you have to go get the guitar and set up for Little Things.” Louis’ eyes are the deepest blue that Harry has ever seen and his smile is gentle, not his normal smile, but it’s reassuring.   
Harry smiles back and starts to walk to the other side of the stage and grabs his guitar and sits on the floor. The other boys are already arranged when Harry finally sits down, he is directly facing Louis, and Louis is still smiling at him.   
Liam does a quiet count for Harry and Louis to start the song, neither boy breaks eye contact, even when Liam starts singing. Luckily the boys have practiced the song enough that they don’t actually need to listen to each other completely to come in because Louis definitely hasn’t looked at the other boys the whole song.  
Louis’ voice breaks Harry out of his trance and he forcefully softens his face to watch Louis sing. Once his lines are up, Harry begins to sing. He voice is rough and he closes his eyes to imagine every image that he is singing about. From his side, he can hear Zayn whisper, “wow,” when he finishes his line. Harry opens his eyes to see Louis still smiling at him, has the boy even blinked yet?   
Niall’s verse begins and Harry can feel the lyrics wrap around him, he looks down because it is actually impossible to look at Louis during these lines.   
Harry’s final lines come up and this time Harry can’t look away, “ And I won’t let these little things slip, out, of my mouth, cause it’s you, oh its you, it’s you, they add up to, and I’m in love with Lou and all his Little Things.”   
Harry can see it in Louis’ eyes when he hears the lyric change. His face drops, and for the first time he looks away from Harry.   
The song finishes the the crowd erupts into applause. “Thank you boys, we will have you back on stage in a few minutes to determine the winner.”  
The boys begin to walk off stage. Louis leads the group and Harry takes up the rear. Once they are off the stage a series of hugs ensues. Harry gets a giant hug from Niall, then Zayn and finally Liam. Where did Louis go? Harry looks up and sees that the radio hosts have already gotten to Louis and are ushering the rest of the boys over to them.   
“So boys, how was that? You all sounded fantastic. How long have you been together?” The host puts the mic to Louis and he gladly takes it.  
“That was epic, we never would have that many people cheering for us. Playing in front of a crowd is very different than playing in a basement.” Louis’ personality is magnetic and Harry can see the radio host falling for it.   
Harry is watching the host smile atLouis and put her hand on his shoulder and it really isn’t making Harry happy. He has never really been a jealous person before, but right now, he really just wants the woman to take her hands off Louis.  
Harry physically pushes his way in between Louis and the woman and answers the rest of the question, “Yeah, we had a blast. We just formed the band a few months ago but we are all really close now.” Harry emphasized the word close by putting his arm around Louis’ shoulder. So what if he is overstepping, she is at work and shouldn't’ be flirting with him.   
The minute Harry’s arm falls on Louis’ shoulder, the older boy turns to look at Harry. Will he be mad that I stepped into the middle of the interview and stopped the woman from flirting with him. I mean, she is pretty.   
Harry is surprised to see the look on Louis’ face, he doesn’t look mad at all, instead he has the same soft smile that harry has learned to love. It is a smile that Harry has realized is just for him.  
“All bands to the stage, we will be announcing the winners now!” The stage hand behind the boys start pushing them on to the stage. Harry and Louis stay attached as the other boys link on to them.  
Once on stage, the boys find a space in the back to listen to the judges announcements.   
“Congratulations to all of you, this is a big step for any band. Many of you were very impressive and had fantastic original songs. This year, we are very happy and surprised to announce that the overall winner of battle of the bands, also won the best original song competition also.”  
Harry’s heart is pounding, it isn’t panic this time, it is pure anticipation. There is no way they won best original song, but they could still win second of third place. Either way, he had so much fun on stage. He felt absolutely alive, he wants to spend the rest of his life on stage.  
Louis is squeezing him close around the waist and Niall is grabbing on to his bicep hard enough to leave a bruise.  
“So without further adieu, in third place, winning $500, is… The Red Beans! And in second place winning $750 is... Maybe Tomorrow!.”  
Harry’s heart sinks, his arm goes slack around Louis. He can’t believe they didn’t win anything. Liam is going to be so upset.  
“And in first place and winning the best original song is...The Pentagons!”  
What the fuck! Niall’s vice grip loosens arounds Harry’s arm and he can see Liam and Zayn running toward Niall. Harry spins his head around just in time to see Louis jump into his arms. Louis little arms wrap around Harry’s neck and his legs wrap around his waist. Harry only sees Louis’ eyes for a second until they shut, Harry tries to remember how to breathe but it is a waste once he feels Louis’ warm thin lips smash onto his. Harry snaps his eyes shut and pulls Louis even closer into him. Who initiated this kiss? Did he lean in or or did I lean in?   
Harry moves his right hand from Louis’ back and steadies Louis head. Harry moves his head to the side to deepen the kiss and let Louis in.  
Harry suddenly, somehow, remembers that they are onstage in front of hundreds of people and they should probably stop making out in front of them. He remembers, but doesn’t care quite enough to stop, so he just starts walking off stage with Louis’ still holding onto him with his legs.   
The boys are offstage and Louis is gripping onto Harry’s hair and gently pulling. The constant inner monologue in Harry’s head has stopped and he for once is completely focused. He is completely aware of Louis fingers in his hair, he can taste the mint gum that Louis was chewing earlier, he notices the way that his full lips fit perfectly against Louis’ thin ones, his heartbeat matches with Louis’ and he is in heaven.  
There is a soft cough behind them but neither boy stops, “Um well, I didn’t realize.” It’s the radio host again, Where the hell does she keep coming from? Louis’ hand suddenly fall from Harry’s neck and Harry gently places Louis back on the floor while the woman keeps talking. “So was that love song about you two? This is a great angle to the …”  
“Are you quite finished?” Louis’ tone is short and sharp. Harry has never seen Louis like this, his eyes have narrowed and he looks like he could kill a person with one look. The woman’s face drops as Louis walks right towards her, harry can see Louis look her up and down and cough as he passes. Then Louis is gone, he walks out the side door of the warehouse and he is gone.  
Harry is still staring at the door when he feels hands on his shoulder. He turns around to see the other three boys looking at him. He turns to Niall first, what just happened? One moment we were kissing and it was wonderful and the next he was gone. Am I imagining this, was this all a dream?   
As if Niall can read his mind, “No man, I saw it too! You guys were like full on making out for like 5 minutes. Frankly, I was a little worried it would happen during the song, but like yeah, it really did happen.”  
Zayn and Liam are nodding their heads with Niall. Liam looks like he is fighting between pure joy and sadness for his friend. Zayn notices Harry’s expression and wraps his arm around his shoulder.   
“Harry, mate. We all saw you two. And Louis jumped into your arms. And he kissed you. I think he likes you.” he says. Liam walks over to them and adds,  
“Yeah, I mean like, um. See, I don’t even know how to explain it but you two are like, perfect or something.”  
“But then why did he run away?” Harry wines. I literally feel like a middle schooler.   
Zayn looks down and pulls his phone out of his pocket, “Um, Louis just texted me and told me to come out to the parking lot. Should I go?”  
Harry’s heart sinks, he did not sign up for a roller coaster ride today. Why did he text Zayn instead? Something has gone wrong! “Yea, go. He obviously needs YOU, so go. I’ll be fine.”   
“Um, okay. I’ll be right back.” Zayn looks back at Harry but walks towards the door.  
Harry backs up until he feels a wall and slides down it. He pulls his knees in close to his chest and closes his eyes. He can still feel Louis’ lips on his, Louis’ heatbeat in still ghosting on his chest.   
Niall kneels in front of Harry and pulls him into a hug. “You want to go get ice cream and celebrate winning?” Niall's ask is hesitant, like he doesn’t want to spook Harry, but it is too late. Harry was spooked the minute Louis ran out that door. Harry sighs and looks up.   
“Niall, you know I know you are addicted to food but I think if I eat anything right now, it would just come back up.” Harry feels like he’s kicking a baby puppy when he says this.   
“Dude it’s okay. I can see the guilt in your eyes. It’s no big deal, I was just trying to distract your mind for a while.”   
“Oh, thanks. I just feel like, so… awkward right now.”   
It is Liam’s turn to pick up his phone, “Um so Zayn says that he and Louis left. He said that he will try to figure out what is going on, but Louis won’t talk right now.”   
Out of nowhere, Niall stands up, “Dude, what the fuck is wrong with him? He is the one who started this? He kissed Harry, he walked away. He doesn’t have any right to be like this. He should be here, he should be here talking to Harry. Not only did he leave, but he took Zayn with him! That is it, I am pissed. No one, I mean no one does this to Harry!” his voice has raised to a point that people are starting to stare, Harry grabs his legs to try to quiet him down. “No Haz, this is ridiculous. Get up, let’s go. We aren’t waiting around here looking like dumbasses. We need answers and we are going to get them!”  
Well, so it seems like Niall is rather invested in this relationship or lack there of. Begrudgingly, Harry stands up and follows Niall out the door. Once outside, Niall grabs his phone and starts tapping the buttons on the screen like they are physically hurting him. He puts the phone up to his ear.  
“Niall what are you doing?” Harry tries to grabs Niall's phone, but he just turns out of the way.  
“I am calling Louis and telling him that he is being an asshole and to get back here and talk to you like a man!”  
“Niall,” Harry pleads, “Please don’t do this, you are going to make it worse.”  
“Hello, Louis, yeah. Pick up your Goddamn phone! You do not just do this. You do not just kiss my best friend and then leave. We are friends, we are in a band, and Harry doesn’t deserve this. Now call me back or call Harry or just fucking fix this or we will have a problem. Got it!” Niall ends the call with a huff. He looks down and begins tapping again but Harry takes the phone from between his hands.   
“Harry what the hell! Give me my phone, I was gonna text him!” Niall yells.  
“No Niall! Look I love that you’re doing this, but maybe he just needs time to think. Maybe he just needs to process what happened.” Harry says as calmly as possible.   
“Yeah maybe. But he shouldn’t have just walked away like that. That was totally uncool!” he yells. “Asshole,” he mumbles.   
“Yes, I agree, that that was not fair but I would want the same thing if it were the other way around. I’m sure that Louis and I will talk soon.”   
“I guess but-”  
“No Niall. Were not talking about this anymore okay. I’m really tired and I just want to go home.” Harry looks at Liam, “Do you need a ride?”  
“Um, I can just walk. It’s okay.” Liam says carefully. As if Harry’s going to explode.   
“Liam, you don’t need to walk on eggshells around me. I’m fine, just tired! Come on, get in the car. Niall,” Harry nods to the car and the boys drive in silence the whole way back to town. They drop Liam off first, and soon it’s just Niall and Harry. After a while in uncomfortable silence, Niall turns to Harry.   
“Harry, can I stay the night?” he asks.  
“Niall I don’t need you to-”  
“No dude, I’m not gonna babysit you. We did just win the battle of the bands, I thought we could just celebrate indoors.”  
“Huh?” Harry asks, confused.  
“Take the next left. We could stop by the store and buy tons of ice cream and toppings. We could sit in the den and watch any movie you want, as long as you let me pick any ice cream I want.” he winks. Harry quietly sighs and turns. Harry parks and Niall rushes him into the store. The two buy multiple tubs of ice cream and a variety of toppings, all of which are paid for by Niall. They hustle back to the car and make their way to Harry’s house. Once inside they set everything on the kitchen counter. Niall takes out bowls and spoons while Harry goes upstairs to change . As Harry climbs the stairs he begins to think.   
Oh my fucking god! What the bloody hell happened! Like, I was just standing there and then he was in my arms, and then his lips were on mine and it was just, aahhh! I dont even know how I feel about this. I mean I’m ecstatic about me holding him in my arms and then we were kissing, and he was pulling at my hair… Fuck Harry! Calm yourself down! You don’t even know if he likes you or not! But Zayn said that he did so… Zayn! Where did he go with Louis? And why is he not answering his phone? Maybe he is just really isn’t okay with me liking Louis so he just freaked out. Urgh, what does this mean for the band? Are we breaking up? Because I really don’t want to. I love hanging out and messing around with the guys. And-  
“Harry! Where the hell did you go! Hurry up, the ice cream’s gonna melt.” Niall yells.   
“Calm down Niall! I’m coming!” Harry goes down the stairs and meets Niall in the kitchen. When he walks in his eyes go wide at the sight in front of him. Niall has found what looks like every single sweet thing in the kitchen. Peanuts, cookies, sprinkles, marshmallows, chocolate syrup. Harry looks around in awe and everything consuming his thoughts suddenly disappears as he reaches for a large bowl. Niall smiles, as the boys fill their bowls with mountains of sweets. When they’re done, they go downstairs to the den. Harry bends down to look in the movie racks and swipes the first one he sees and jumps on the couch. Niall takes the movie from Harrys hands, reads the title, and looks at Harry with his eyebrows raised.   
“The Lion King? Dude really? Isn’t there something else there something else that you wanna see?” he asks.   
“Niall! The Lion King is one of the best films out there!”   
“Yeah but Harry-”  
“We are watching The Lion King and eating ice cream and you are going to cuddle me.” Harry pouts. Niall laughs and salutes him.   
“Yes sir!” Niall jumps of the couch and puts the DVD in the player. He runs back to Harry and covers them in blankets. And that’s how they spend their night. Lounging on the couch, eating ice cream and watching The Lion King. Harry is glad that he chose a disney film because they’re always happy, but when Simba’s father dies, Harry erupts into tears. At first he tries to hide his sobs but Niall quickly notices and pauses the movie.   
“No Niall, I’m okay. It’s just this part of the movie always gets to me. I’m fine really. Press play,” he insists.   
“Harry. I know that you’re not crying like this because of the movie,” Niall puts his bowl down and pats his lap. Harry lays his head down and Niall immediately starts playing with his hair. “Okay Haz, tell me what your thinking. But I just want you know in advance that I am shit at giving advice so bear with me.” Harry sniffs and closes his eyes.   
“It’s just that. Niall I’ve never acted so strange around guys. Ever. But, that first day, at the auditions. When I heard him running across the room, I looked up and the first thing I noticed was his eyes. They were a bright clear blue and I froze. Stunned, because well. I dont know. And then he started to sing I was mesmerized. I didn’t even notice that I had begun singing with him. Then when you left he came back and we played the piano together and I thought he was perfect. And until Zayn said that Lindsay wasn’t his girlfriend I tried so hard not to like him. You have no idea how much it physically hurt me not to hug him every time I saw him, or hold his hand every time we walked side by side. And tonight, when his solo came in Teenage Dirtbag I swear I heard him sing, ‘no he doesn’t know what he’s missing’. But I thought I was just hearing things so I ignored it. Then when we were playing Little Things, our eyes never lost each other. I felt like it just us two, and I ruined it.” Harry pauses and lets out a sob.   
“What do you mean you ruined it Harry? You were amazing.” says Niall   
“Because, didn’t you hear it Niall? I said ‘and I’m in love with Lou and all his little things.’ After I sang it, he looked away for the first time. Then that stupid host lady was flirting with him and it made me so mad! Which is so strange for me because I am not the jealous type. But the way she was looking at him made me upset, so I just pushed my way in between them and I thought that he would be mad at me but he gave me a smile. It was a small beautiful smile and I knew that he only smiled like that for me. By then I didn’t even care if we had won or not because I was just glad that I had him, and you and Liam and Zayn. So when they announced that we won, both performances I was totally surprised. I saw you, Liam and Zayn hugging so I turned around, then he was in my arms. Just like that. I didn’t know what to do at first but our faces kinda smashed together and we were kissing. I didn't do it on purpose, but I think he leaned in first, so I just went with it. And all of my feeling towards him just rushed out and I couldn’t help it. Then I remembered that we were onstage, so I carefully backed up. But that stupid lady interrupted us again so we stopped. I let him down and he said something to her and he walked out the door and left me there. I was happy, disappointed, and confused at the same time. Then when Zayn left with him, I was absolutely gutted. I thought he just needed to think for a few minutes but he never walked back in, he didn’t even take his jacket from my car. Anyway, when you started yelling at him I began to feel even worse. I wanted you to keep calling him, but I also felt like I should give him space, you know. And I was kinda relieved when you offered to stay because I think I would have exploded in this house alone.” Harry takes in a deep breath and sighs. It’s quite for a while. “Shit Niall.”  
Niall’s body folds onto Harry and he hugs him for what feels like forever. Harry can feel his body relaxing and he tries to close his eyes. “It will get better Hazza. I promise, I mean, I don’t know what Louis will do, but no matter what you have the band and me. We won’t leave you.” Harry lets out a few more sniffles, but Niall just lets him cry it out for the rest of the movie.   
After Lion King ends, Niall asks if Harry is tired and wants to go to bed. Harry knows that if he goes to bed right now that he won’t sleep, his mind is still going a mile a minute and he can’t stop replaying every moment since he met Louis in his head. He thinks about the feel of Louis’ thigh on his at the piano bench, how his hand felt around the milkshake, the goodnight kiss. He is analyzing every look, every touch and every word from the past few months.  
“No I’m not tired yet, lets watch another movie.” Harry really isn’t watching the movie, but it is a good distraction.  
Niall gets up to pick out a movie and comes back within the minute. “Okay, so I picked this out to go with our movie theme tonight, it is one of my favorites this time...are you ready?” After Harry nods, Niall pushes a movie into Harry’s hand. He looks down and there on the cover of the DVD is a red haired mermaid on a rock and the tears come flooding back. Harry drops his whole body onto the pillow on the side of couch and presses his face into it.   
“Um, I think I missed something…” Niall’s confusion is clear, but he is trying to tread softly of Harry. “ I didn’t realize the you hate ‘The Little Mermaid’.”  
Through his tears Harry tries to explain, “I love ‘The Little Mermaid’, but at the bungalow when Louis and I were making tea that first night we sang Little Mermaid songs together. I’m sorry, I am obviously losing my mind.”  
“Mhhm, you guys are weird.” Niall puts the DVD on and sits down next to Harry. “I hope you are okay, but we are going to watch it. Maybe crying more with help.”   
When he is sure he is done crying, harry goes to the bathroom to wash his face. But it isn’t the same face from this morning, or even last week. He is defeated and can’t take it anymore. He pulls out his phone and thumbs open messaging. He opens his text with Louis, it is easy, it is the last text he sent.   
He sits on the side of the tub for a second while thinking about what to text. Should he send all his feelings? Should he ask if they are okay? He settles on one word  
oops? :-/  
Before he can talk himself out of it, he presses send and walks out of the bathroom. He tosses his phone in the bedroom on the way back to the den. He doesn’t want to be thinking about Louis the whole night. He wants to forget for a little while and enjoy spending time with his best friend.   
When Harry gets back he sees that Niall has re-filled his bowl, which is fine by him. Harry doesn’t cry anymore that night and he’s relieved. He is so tired and overwhelmed, he falls asleep in Niall’s lap and doesn’t move all night.   
.....  
The next morning Harry wakes up to an aching neck and sticky fingers. He rolls off the couch and groans. He takes Niall’s phone and checks the time. 10:51 it reads. Harry forces himself up trying not to wake Niall. Luckily it is Sunday and Harry has nothing to do today.   
Harry decides he is going to be a runner now. He walks out of the den and finds a pair of shorts and sneakers. No one will notice that they are Louis’ shorts.   
He heads outside. He looks to the left, he knows that Louis’ house is that way. He could easily run by. Louis might be outside or at the park near his house with his sisters. It would be easy just to run by him and maybe then Louis will talk to him. Harry hasn’t checked his phone, but he knows that there is no response from Louis.  
With all the will power he can muster, Harry turns around and runs to the right. He is running against the cool breeze so his hair is pulled back behind him. Somehow Harry manages to block out all of his thoughts and focuses on where he is going, but that doesn’t last long. Soon he is reminiscing about the day before. Harry’s thoughts are consumed by blue eyes, little hands, thin lips, and careful smiles.   
Harry doesn’t know how long he has been running, but his legs have started to give out and he would kill for a glass of water right about now. He stops running for a second to figure out where he is. He recognizes the place, he was here before, with Louis.   
The diner with the amazing milkshake is right around the corner. Harry doesn’t think he could handle more ice cream after yesterday but he could go for a glass of water and a snack. Harry runs the rest of the way to the diner and walks through the door.  
He doesn’t look around and instead walks straight to the counter to sit down and drink some water. He opens up a menu and starts perusing. Out of nowhere, he hears a tiny girl voice from behind him shout his name.  
Harry turns around and there, sitting in one of the big corner booths is Louis’ whole family, luckily everyone except for Louis. Harry’s hand is suddenly attacked by the two twins and they are pulling him towards the table.  
“Hi Harry!,” one of the twins starts. “I have to tell you about my dance recital. Louis made the most fantastic tutu in the world, everyone was jealous. It was green, I said it was like your eyes and he laughed and then curled the ribbon and I said it was like your hair! Why didn’t you come to my recital last night?”  
And well, ouch. Every part of that hurt Harry. At least it explains where Louis went last night. Louis’ mom has scooted over in the bench and is motioning for Harry to sit down.   
Harry really likes Louis’ family, but this isn’t really what he had in mind for today. He sits down anyway and turns back to the smiling little girl. “Sorry little one, I was going to come to your recital but I ended up getting a little ill. Your tutu sounds amazing. I would love to see pictures.” Harry wants to ask more questions: did Louis go to the recital alone? Was he happy? Was he been crying like Harry?   
Louis’ mom puts her hand on top of Harry’s on the table and gives him something that can only be described as a motherly smile, “Well Lou has the pictures on his phone and he should be back from the bathroom in a second. I am sure he would love to show you.”  
And shit Harry thought that Louis wasn’t with them. He isn’t ready to see Louis and especially not like this when he is all sweaty and probably still covered with the ice cream from last night. He really needs to think of a way to leave this situation.   
“Oh I will have to ask him to see them a different time, I really need to get back home. My Mum will be wondering where I am.” And with that, Harry starts to stand up and give hugs to all the women standing in front of him.  
Louis’ mom looks skeptical, “But dear, you haven’t even gotten anything.”   
Just as Harry is going to say something back, he sees Louis coming from the bathroom. Their eyes meet for a second and Harry immediately looks away. He gives one more smile to Louis’ mom and nearly runs out the door. He hits a chair on the way out and yells an apology at whoever can hear.   
Before he knows it, Harry is back outside and running, maybe sprinting, around the corner and back to his house. He tries to block out everything from his mind and just run as hard and as fast as he can. It is only a mile back to his house, and every pound of his foot on the pavement is a reminder to Harry to not think. Do not think of Louis’ family, do not think of the sadness in his eyes, just don’t think.   
…..  
Monday morning came way too fast for Harry. He had been dreading it all night and barely slept. The good news is that he was able to write a whole new song last night. He isn’t sure if it is good, but he just needed to get his feelings out.   
I promised one day that I'd bring you back a star, I caught one and it burned a hole in my hand oh, Seems like these days I watch you from afar, Just trying to make you understand, I'll keep my eyes wide open yeah. Don't let me go. Don't let me go...  
He still wants Louis in his life, he wants his friendship back at least. He hates that he wants to run away every time Louis is around. Harry wants to hold on to anything he can. He decides that tomorrow at school he is going to try and talk to him. 

…..  
When Niall showed up at Harry’s house before school, like he said he would, he had a donut and cup of coffee for Harry. Harry had never been so happy to see caffeine in his life.  
Once at school, Harry does his best to act natural. He goes from class to class, pretending that it just another day. That is until P.E, coincidently, the coach is out sick so the two classes will be combined today. It takes Harry less than a second to remember that this means that he will have class with Louis. Oh and it is the soccer unit.   
“We will split teams based on class. My class over here, coach Paul’s class you are on the other side. Can I get the first 11 students on the field in position please.” The coach blows the whistle and Harry runs off to his spot as right defender. Having played soccer a few times with Louis, he has gotten a little better, but he still would rather be sitting on the side writing in his notebook.   
Liam is behind him in the goal and they exchange a quick high five before the coach blows the whistle. Harry turns to see who he is defending and notices Louis running right at him with the ball at his feet. It doesn’t look like Louis has seen him yet, he is focused on his current defender right now.  
Well shit, thats just Harry’s luck. Should Harry just let him go by? Can he just rugby tackle him? He could totally just sit down in the middle of the field and boycott this entire situation. This is ridiculous anyway, Louis is a top ranked high school soccer player in Arizona, how is Harry Styles--the most uncoordinated person in the world--supposed to defend him? Screw it, Louis has taken up enough of his time and thoughts, he is not going to make Harry not participate in class. With determination to stop Louis, Harry runs at Louis at full speed. He is sure he looks deranged, but he is too upset to think twice about this.  
Once Harry is 5 yards away and still running at full speed he looks up to see Louis staring at him. Louis’ eyes drop and his usual happy demeanor changes to something else. Right in front of Harry’s eyes, Louis stops running and just stands behind the ball staring at Harry.  
What is this? Is he just going to give the ball to Harry? That isn’t fair? Harry stops running and just stares at Louis. He isn’t going to take the ball like this, he was going to steal it and get that satisfaction, but there is no satisfaction in having the ball given to him. Why is he treating him like a small child?   
In Harry’s frustration, he looks Louis dead in the eye and yells, “I am not one of your sisters!”  
Louis looks like he is going to say something, but before he can, one of Harry’s teammates runs up and takes the ball between the two of them and runs off. Harry turns around and follows the boy with the ball. As he’s running he hears Louis calling him. “Harry! Hazz come here!”  
Harry ignores him and continues running. He catches up to his teammate as they near the goal. Harry may not be good at soccer, but he is fast. “Pass! I got it!” he yells. Harry receives the ball and gets closer to the goal. He can hear someone approaching him from behind, running fast. He turns his head and catches Louis’ toned legs running after him. He turns back and sees that the goalie is coming at him, without thinking he pulls his right foot back and transfers all his weight through it and to the ball. He even lands on his shooting foot like Louis had taught him.   
The ball soars off of Harry’s foot, right above the goalie’s hands. It hits the top left corner of the net and from the sideline, Harry can hear the coach blow his whistle and ask for the next set of students to get on the field. Harry feels a warm hand on his shoulder. He turns his head and Louis’ eyes meet his.   
“Hey where’d you learn how to shoot like that?” he asks. Louis’ eyes are playful and he gives Harry “the” smile. But, before Harry can say anything someone pulls his arm. He turns around, “Coach wants you.”   
Without looking back, Harry walks towards the P.E coach.   
What was that? First he just gives me the ball, then he calls after me and now he wants to make playful conversation? Did I miss something? Did I miss when he responded to my text or came back to talk to me? No i didn’t think so!  
Harry and Louis’ team end up playing each other one more time before the end of the period. Harry walks back to his defensive position and looks across the field to see Louis across from him. He catches Louis’ eye for a second and he sees Louis fidget from foot to foot.   
“Hey Ed, will you switch positions with me?” Louis is shouting to the left midfielder on his team and running towards him. Louis just switched positions so he wouldn’t have to play Harry! This is just ridiculous, Harry was going to talk to Louis but not now. Harry is pissed, if Louis doesn’t want to play against him, then Harry doesn’t even want to be on the same field as him.   
Harry looks straight at Louis as he walks towards the side line. Harry walks right past Louis on his way off the field, he gives Louis one more look and sits on the bench. Louis’s eyes follow him to the bench, but quickly move away once Harry starts to stare at him.   
Finally P.E is over and everyone walks towards the locker room to get changed.   
….  
For three straight weeks, Louis and Harry avoid each other in every way possible. Harry is still upset about how Louis treated him in P.E. and he feels like Louis should apologize. As the days go by, Harry’s manors start to get the best of him and he has begun to feel badly for yelling at Louis.   
One day after school, Harry builds up enough courage to finally talk to him. He has been thinking about Louis all day and he was missing him a lot. Not in a creepy think about him all the time way…  
So, after woodshop, Harry walks towards Louis’ locker. Even from far away he can hear Louis’ laughter through the hallway. It is his high pitched hysterical laughter that Louis only uses when he is laughing at his own jokes. He has used it exactly three times with Harry when one of his many jokes finally hit right. Harry stops at the sound and just listens for a while before he puts his game face back on and keeps walking.   
Once he is less than 10 yards from Louis, he can feel his hands start to get sweaty and his heart start to race. Why did this always happen around this boy? Harry has had crushes before this, several in fact, but he has never gotten like this around any of them. Entire sentences escape his mind with just one look at louis. But not this time, Harry is determined to talk to Louis and get answers. He tightens the straps on his backpack and sets his eyes on his target. He moves his right foot, and then his left. Good job Harry.  
Louis hasn’t noticed harry approaching, he has his head in his locker searching for something. It was amazing Louis could find anything in his locker it was just a mess. Harry realizes that he has never actually seen the inside of Louis’ locker. Harry’s eyes linger on the locker for a while waiting for Louis to turn around.   
Taped to the locker door, hasn’t Louis ever heard of magnets, are two pictures printed on normal white paper. One is a selfie the band took when they got to battle of the bands. Harry and Louis’ faces are pressed together and Niall looks like he is biting Harry’s head. Harry pulls his eyes from the first photo and they settle on the second one. Where had this picture come from? It was taken at the bungalow obviously, Harry would recognize that couch anywhere. But he doesn’t remember this picture. It is of he and Louis sitting on the small couch in the living room. They aren’t looking at the camera though, instead they are staring at eachother. Harry is obviously saying something to Louis and Louis is mid laugh. The crinkles by Louis’ eyes are out in full force and his smile is literally taking up all of his face. Harry on the other hand has a creepy stare on his face. It almost looks like he is about to swallow Louis whole. Oh god, what is this picture? Did Harry always look like this around Louis? Because if he did, than someone on the moon could see just how crazy he was.   
Harry is caught off guard when the picture is suddenly covered by a head on brown fringe and deep blue eyes staring at him. Fuck, there go the words again.  
Louis is about to say something to Harry, but he puts up his hand to stop Louis. Harry has something to say and he is going to say it. He straightens up to full height and clears his throat.   
“You owe me an explanation.” Perfect, it was just how Harry rehearsed it, or would have rehearsed it if he has been practicing in the mirror for the past week.   
Louis’ face falls, his hands dig into his pockets and he takes a step forward. Harry is suddenly very aware of how close they are. He wants to reach out and grab Louis, he wants to apologize for everything and ask if they can just start over. Louis’ look so small right now, he just wants to hold him against his chest.  
Louis looks up and his mouth opens to say something, but before he can get a word out, there is a heavy hand on Harry’s shoulder and a loud voice behind him.  
“Holy shit, just the two guys I wanted to see. Liam, Zayn and I were looking all over for you.” Niall really needs to learn how to take social cues. “We are set to record “Little Things” this weekend and I thought we should do some rehearsing before that.”   
Liam is nodding, “Yeah I mean we haven’t played together since the competition, we could use a run though.” Harry can hear the hesitance in Liam’s voice. He isn’t looking at Harry or at Louis, just looking between Niall and the ground and back again.  
Harry isn’t sure what to say, he wants the three other boys to walk away and leave him and Louis to figure this out. He is about to say as much when he hears Louis start to respond.   
His answer is hesitant and Harry can feel Louis looking at him. “Yeah, sure, that sounds like a decent plan. Um, when do you want to get together? Tomorrow after school?”  
Yes, tomorrow after school would be perfect. I could talk to Louis and figure this out.   
But of course, it is Niall so nothing works out as it should, “Nah, I mean I thought we could go to my house right now and practice. I have your keyboard still Tommo, since you left it at the competition. I may have spilled some ice cream on it, but I’m sure it still works.” It is clear that this is a joke, but Niall isn’t really smiling or laughing, his face is deadpan and almost accusatory.   
Harry knows that Niall hasn’t spoken to Louis’ since the competition, but he couldn’t still be mad, could he? Niall is staring right at Louis and his face hasn’t changed.   
“Uh, thanks Niall. Sure we can practice right now. Harry and I will walk over in a second.” Louis’ voice is softer than usual. He isn’t accepting Niall’s challenge, instead he seems a little unsure.  
Harry nods to agree that he and Louis will walk over in a bit, at least Louis seems like he wants to talk now.  
Niall grabs Harry’s arm and begins to speak again, “That’s alright, Tommo.” For some reason the nickname doesn’t sound that friendly, “Harry will ride with me, I have my car and we will grab some snacks on the way.” Niall puts his arm fully around Harry and starts to walk off.   
Harry turns around to see that Zayn has taken a step closer to Louis, and Louis is explaining something with his head down.   
Harry and Niall walk in silence to his car, but once the door is closed, niall whips his around to look at Harry, “The nerve of Louis, making you walk with him when he won't even talk to you? What the hell, right?”  
Harry looks out the window of the car, towards the school entrance. “He was trying to talk to me when you all walked up. I had told him that he owed me an explanation and he was going to say something but your big head walked up.” Harry isn’t angry, he is just frustrated.  
“Oh shit, sorry man. You looked upset so I thought I was helping. Want to go back inside and say that I left without you or something?”   
“No, it is fine, I will just see him at your house. Rehearsing the song again will be weird enough.” Niall looks at him for a while. Harry can tell he’s trying to think of something to say. But instead, he turns to the steering wheel and starts the ignition.   
During the ride Harry tries to keep his mind blank. Not wanting to think about Louis or the band. Finally, he lets his mind win and his thoughts begin to swim through his head.   
Well shit this is going to be awkward. I don’t even know if I can sing the song without either looking at Louis or breaking down into tears again. What were Zayn and Louis talking about when we left, because I know it was about me. Maybe he was thanking Zayn for finding us before he had to talk. No, Louis would never say anything like that. Right? No, Harry you’re being insane. But what if I’m not? Like, what if Louis was telling him that he didn’t want to record anymore, that he was done with the band because he can't stand to be around me anymore. Harry, stop thinking like this. Seriously, it’s not healthy. Just calm down. All you need to do is make it through this rehearsal and the recording and that's it. Then you won’t have to see Louis again. But, I want to see Louis again. Sooo badly. God why did he do this to me? How did he do this to me? How did this boy, this beautiful and talented and funny boy, cuddle his way into my head, and my heart in just a couple of months?   
“Harry. Um, were here.” say Niall. Harry grabs his backpack and gets out of the car without a word. He waits at the front door until Niall catches up.   
“Hey, are you okay man? If not, I can call the guys and tell them my throat hurts and I can’t sing or something.” Niall offers.   
“No, it’s okay. I’m okay.”  
“You sure?”  
“Yeah I’m sure. Let’s just get this over with.   
Harry and Niall are in the house alone for just enough time to set up the instruments in the basement and bring some snacks downstairs before the doorbell rings. Before answering the door, Niall turns to Harry, “Do you want be to distract the other guys while you and Louis talk?”  
Bless Niall, “No, the ball is in Louis’ court now, if he wants to talk he can make it happen. Lets just get this rehearsal over before I lose it.” Harry reaches around Niall and opens the door. Liam is first to enter, followed closely by Louis and then Zayn. It was like Louis was coming with body guards. Harry’s heart fell a little further in his chest. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t hoped that Louis would stop and talk to him immediately.   
Without much conversation, all the boys head to the basement, it is second nature for them now. Niall turns and gives Harry a quick thumbs up to check on him and Harry tries to respond with a smile, but is sure that it comes out more like a grimace.  
Once everyone is downstairs and sitting in their usual semi-circle, reality hits Harry again. He is standing directly across from Louis and is expected to sing his love song. This is not a good idea. He has to move, he has to change his line of view. His eyes are searching the room for a solution. Liam is talking but Harry can’t hear anything while he racks his brain for a way out of this.   
Harry interrupts Liam explaining all the details on the recording and looks at Niall, "Ney Ni, can we trade spots?”  
Niall doesn't even question it and gets up to switch places with Harry, Harry now gets to focus on the line of trophies that line Niall’s room. He calms his breathing just enough that he can hear Liam start to count down.  
“3...2..1”  
Harry starts to play and he tries to enjoy the melody coming from Louis’ fingers. He is fine until Liam starts to sing. At the mention of his and Louis’ hands together, his fingers slip of the strings in the chord he was playing. Liam shoots him an evil look and he tries to play it off and keep playing. He regains composure for long enough to get through the rest of Liam’s singing and Zayn’s.  
Harry knows what is coming next and he tries to prepare himself. Louis’ singing always gets Harry, but Louis singing about the time they spent sharing a bed might actually kill Harry. The moment Louis’ sweet voice comes in contact with Harry’s ears, his chest grows heavy and his eyes start to close. He can not look at Louis right now, that won’t end well.   
Harry takes a deep breath trying to focus on his fingers and his playing. It takes everything inside of Harry to join in on the last few bars of Louis’ verse. He can hear his voice and how it is cracking and unsteady. He sees Liam look at him, but he can’t make eye contact. He pushes through this last few words and drops off a little short to stop himself from crying. You can not cry in front of them right now!  
Harry is proud of himself right now, if he wasn't playing he would probably pat himself on the back. Unfortunately it doesn't last too long. Once Harry refocuses on what is happening around him he catches the tail end of Niall’s verse, “Maybe you’ll love yourself like I, love you.”   
And well that is it, there is nothing left for Harry to do but let the tears fall from his green eyes. He doesn’t even bother wiping them, he just stands up puts the guitar down and walks up the stairs. He can hear that Niall hasn't stopped singing yet but the piano stopped almost immediately.   
He hopes that Louis will run up after him and ask if he is okay. He wants Louis to walk up behind him and wrap his arms around Harry’s chest to stop his heart from falling out. He is by the front door before he realizes it, his hand is on the door knob. He doesn’t hear anything besides the low murmur of voices from the basement.   
Why isn’t Louis there? Why didn’t he follow Harry? The tears have turned into actual sobs at this point and Harry puts his sweatshirt covered arm over his mouth to muffle the sound. He doesn’t want to leave but he can’t go back downstairs. He backs into the wall behind him and lets his body fall down the wall until he is sitting on the floor with his knees pulled close to his chest.   
Harry’s head is buried between his arms and resting on his knees. His sobs have stopped but Harry is still shaking. He can feel his head throbbing and he is about to get up when he feels a warm hand on his shoulder.  
“Pumpkin..” The hand is now rubbing small circles on Harry’s back and the person has sat down next to him. “Harry, please don’t cry.”  
Harry’s knows the voice and he could recognize Louis’ scent like a search dog, but he can’t manage to lift his head up. His sniffles have come back, he tries to hold them in but it just comes out as a muffled hiccup.  
“Love, please look at me,” the last word cracks as it comes out of Louis’ mouth and Harry feels something wet hit his shoulder. Is Louis crying?   
Harry finally does as he is asked and lifts his head up just enough to see Louis’ eyes. The ocean blue eyes are now dark blue grey like a stormy sky and Louis’ tears are the rain. Seeing Louis like this breaks his heart in two. His vision blurs and the tears stream down his face. Without thinking, Harry reaches up and uses his thumb to wipe the tears away from Louis’ face. Louis has stopped rubbing circles in his back but hasn’t moved his arm from around Harry’s waist. Harry lets his body relax and he leans into Louis.   
The two boys sit together for a few minutes, the only sound is their muffled sniffles. Finally Harry can’t stand it anymore, he needs answers, he doesn’t look up but he sets his jaw ready to speak, “What did I do Lou? I thought you kissed me? What did I do to make you hate me now? I can’t take this anymore...I can’t sing that song with you while you can’t even look at me.” Harry knows that he is rambling but can’t stop. “How can I sing about my feelings for you, when you have clearly told me that they are one sided? I know that the song says that I don’t need you to love me back, but this, this!” Harry’s voice has risen and his soft whisper has grown into a muted shout. “This, I can’t take this! I just care so much…..”  
Harry is cut off with Louis’ hand over his mouth. Louis’ eyes are wide and his mouth is halfway open, “Stop, Harry, stop. I need to give you answers and I can’t when it’s breaking my heart just listening to you right now.”   
Louis’ removes his hand from Harry’s mouth when he is sure that Harry won't talk and puts both his hands on Harry’s shoulder. “Pumpkin, you did nothing wrong, ever! Trust me, you are amazing, I am so lucky to have met you. You need to know that, first and foremost. There is nothing that you could do that would make me hate you, ever! Do you understand?”  
Without knowing why, Harry nods. His eyes are trained on Louis and his whole body is focused on the burn coming from Louis’ hands on his shoulders. “But you left Lou, you left.”  
Louis’ grip tightens on Harry’s shoulder. He takes a deep breath and looks into Harry’s eyes, “I was scared Haz, I mean think about it. You are absolutely amazing and I didn’t think there was anyway in the world that you would ever want me back. I thought I heard you change the lyrics in “Little Things,” at the gig and I just got so overwhelmed and then when we won, there was no where else I wanted to be than in your arms. I didn’t even think before I jumped into them, and thought even less before I kissed you. It felt like a dream and then I noticed that you were kissing me back and I couldn’t believe what was happening.”   
“Wait, so you, wanted to kiss me?”   
“Harry of course I wanted to kiss you, I have wanted to kiss you since the first day in that music room. You were just so, different from everyone else and amazing and when you danced with my sister that day, my heart just melted more for you. For god sakes, I got jealous of my sisters for a little while because they got to touch you and get a kiss from you.”  
Harry releases a small giggle, how could Louis have not noticed how ridiculous Harry was for him?  
“Then, when I finally got to kiss you I freaked out, I didn’t want anything to change between us, I didn’t want to lose you or scare you away. I knew that Niall had said that you wrote most of your songs about someone back in England and I didn't’ want to ….”  
It was Harry’s turn to put his hand over Louis mouth, “Lou, didn’t you hear me earlier, my songs are for you, they are all about you. How did you not get that. I literally describe you in “Little Things.” And yes, I did slip up and change the lyrics at battle of the bands because originally the lyrics were “and I’m in love with Lou and all his little things.”  
Harry can see a small smile forming on Louis’ face, his hands are falling from Harry’s shoulder and he is afraid that he scared Louis away. Harry’s face contorts into panic but eases as Louis repositions his hands on Harry’s waist. Louis is leaning closer to Harry and neither boy is breathing, Louis finally opens his mouth to break the silence, “Now kiss me you fool.”   
And with that Louis’ soft lips are pressed against Harry’s. His lips are swollen from all the biting he had been doing while he cried and listened to Louis talk. The pain of swollen lips is replaced with a feeling of warm silk. Harry’s hands fall to Louis’ knees and he scoots closer to Louis as he is pulled forward.   
Louis starts to pull away and Harry tries to chase his mouth, but Louis starts to talk again, “I will write a thousand songs for you Harry Styles.”   
Harry doesn’t have time to reply before Louis is back in his space and their lips are touching again. Harry tilts his head to the side to get even closer to Louis. He doesn’t think he could ever get close enough to Louis’ without wanting more.  
Unfortunately, Harry may never know what it feels like to get any closer to Louis, because like clockwork, the door the the basement bursts open and Niall comes tumbling out arguing with Zayn about which superhero would win in a battle between Superman and Spiderman.   
Niall is still yelling, when Zayn coughs in surprise. “Oh um… sorry guys, um...We thought you had left Harry...um, we will, um… go back downstairs...or well ..fuck.”  
“It’s ok Zayny,” Niall cooes. “looks like our lovebirds finally figured their shit out, it was really tough watching your soap opera boys.” Niall turns and grabs Zayn and starts walking back down the stairs. Before the door closes Harry can hear Niall yell one last thing, “Make good choices boys!” The boys laugh then turn back to each other.   
“So…” says Harry. He doesn’t really know what to do at this moment.   
“So. What are you doing tomorrow?” asks Louis. His lips curve into mischievous smile. Harry decides to mess around with Louis a bit. He, places the same smile on his face.   
“Oh, I dont know. I was thinking about going to the store with Gemma, or maybe writing for a while. Why do you ask?”   
“Oh well if you’re busy nevermind then.” Louis turns his head and looks down. Shit that wasn’t supposed to happen. Fix it Harry, fix it! Harry’s eyes soften and he lifts his hand and turns Louis’s head.   
“Lou, you know I would do anything for you. What’s up?” Louis looks at Harry again.  
“Thats what I thought. Now I am formally inviting you to my house tomorrow evening for dinner.”   
“Who’s making dinner?” Harry is clearly confused.   
“I am! Why do you look so surprised?”   
“Louis, love. You know that I would never let anything dangerous happen to you but I’m afraid you might burn your house down.” Harry laughs when Louis raises his hand to his mouth in horror.   
“Excuse you! I happen to have a specialty dish that my entire family is quite fond of.”  
“Ooh tell me more, tell me more!” Harry’s Frenchie interpretation is spot on.   
Louis bops him on the nose and stands up, “You will just have to come over and see kiddo.” Louis turns to walk away but stops right before basement door and turns back around. He walks quickly back towards Harry who is still sitting on the floor and squats down in front of him.  
There is a mischievous smile on Louis face, as he leans down and presses his lips against Harry’s one more time. “I like that I can kiss you whenever I want to.” Louis’ smile changes, back to one that Harry missed the most, the one that reserved just for him.   
Harry finally gets his words out as Louis is walking back down the stairs, “I can’t believe I get to kiss you.” It comes out no louder than a whisper and Harry bangs his head against the wall behind him and slides further down until he is laying on the floor in front of Niall’s front door.


	7. March

Dinner with Louis, dinner with Louis!   
Harry had eventually gotten off the floor at Niall’s house but couldn’t go back downstairs. He didn’t think he could sit in a room with Louis anymore that day without actually shooting hearts out of his eyes.   
Now it is Friday morning and Harry is throwing clothes around his room trying to figure out an outfit...again. Is this going to be an everyday thing now? Will he have to buy a whole new Louis’ worthy wardrobe? He will have to get a job to pay for all that…  
“Harry, you are going to be late for school.” His mother yells from down the stairs.  
Well shit, Harry pulls on his favorite black jeans, the ones with the holes in the knee. He pulls a red and grey stitched sweater from under his bed and starts throwing it over his head while he runs downstairs.  
He finally gets the sweater over his head and a muffin in his hand when he notices the sweater. He doesn’t recognize the sweater, and it obviously isn’t his because it only goes halfway down his arms and pulls tight across his back. Maybe it’s Gemma’s sweater. There is no time now to worry about the fact that he is wearing his sister's clothes.  
He runs out the door and towards the school. Harry really hates being late in general, but he was hoping to run into Louis before classes started.   
Before Harry fell asleep last night he got a text message from Louis. There were no words just two emojis, a smiley face and a kissy face. The smile hasn’t left Harry’s face since then. He couldn't even think of a proper way to respond so instead he just sent back the angel emoji.  
Once Harry runs through the front doors of school, he hears the bell ring and sees everyone rushing into rooms before the teacher can close the doors. Luckily his classroom is in the front of the school and he can see that the door is still open. He makes a beeline to the door and slinks in right as the teacher is closing the door.   
Harry does his best to focus on what he is learning in class but it is really hard to do that when all he can think about is his date with Louis tonight. HIS DATE WITH LOUIS! It is actually happening; first they will go on a date, then they will be boyfriends and then fiances and then husbands and holy crap he IS going to have Louis’ babies and bake cookies for their grandbabies…  
“Mr. Styles!” Harry looks up from where he is wringing his hands and sees that the entire class is staring at him and the teacher doesn’t look to happy.  
“Um, “ Harry starts to talk but realizes that he has no idea what is going on.  
The girl next to Harry starts to giggle, “She asked you what the answer was and you just kinda nodded and started smiling all creepy like.”  
Well that explains why everyone is staring at him, ”Im sorry ma'am, what did you ask?”  
The teachers is about to respond when the bell rings to signal the end of class. Harry quickly shuts down the idea of staying after to clear things up with his teacher and instead, quickly throws his bag over his shoulder and darts out of the room. He is going to be a mess for midterms coming up if he can’t pay attention to anything happening in class.  
Harry stays close to the wall when he gets sucked into the moving pack on students between classes. He doesn’t have to go to his locker yet so he is taking his time walking the long way to class. He wants to give his mind a little more time to wander before he is asked to focus on something besides Louis Tomlinson.  
His focus is set on the state championship soccer team photo ahead of him. Louis face is right in the middle of the pack. Harry likes to walk past it as often as he can, not in a creepy way, just in a ‘hey cool my mate is really good at football,’ type of way.   
Harry is so focused on the picture a few yards in front of him that he doesn’t notice the hand dart out from behind the little alcove in the hallway and grab his arm. It takes Harry way too long to realize what is going on. He would not be good in a kidnapping situation. Before he puts everything together, he is being pushed up against the cool brick wall and there are hands on his hips and thin warm lips against his.   
It is dark in the alcove, but Harry opens his eyes just enough to recognize the brown hair and long eyelashes in front of him. Where the fuck had Louis come from?   
Instead of thinking too much about his questions, Harry decided to take advantage of the situation and raises one of his hands to wrap behind Louis’ neck and he lets the other sit on Louis’ lower back. It all feels so natural, Harry forgets for a moment that this is really only their second real kiss. (He isn’t sure whether to count the one at battle of the bands).   
Just as Harry starts to tilt his head down to get closer to Louis, his lips feel cool again. He opens his eyes to see that Louis has pulled away and is staring at Harry’s face. Harry hopes to God that he didn’t look pathetic blindly searching for Louis’ lips after they went missing.  
Louis’ is smiling at Harry, his hands are still firm on the taller boys hips. Harry can’t look away from the sparkle coming from Louis’ eyes. He leans back down hoping to meet his lips again with Louis’ but he is stopped be a finger pressed to his lips.  
“Sorry Pumpkin, we have class. You can’t be late, otherwise I will have to get you out of detention again. Plus, we have a date tonight and I don’t want you to get sick of me quite yet.”  
Harry settles with a gentle kiss to Louis’ finger. “Never get sick of you Lou.”   
Wow he is embarrassingly sappy. Luckily it seems that Louis doesn’t mind. We just smiles and raises up on his tiptoes. The smaller boy gets his mouth right next to Harry’s ear and whispers, “Promise?”   
It is barely audible, but it sends shivers down Harry’s spine. Before he can answer, Louis is moving his head and placing one small chaste kiss to Harry’s lips and walking out of their little alcove. Louis doesn’t turn back to say anything to Harry, but harry watches every slight movement that Louis makes until he disappears around the corner.  
Yep, there goes any hope Harry had for paying attention in class today. He can barely stand up from where he is sitting. Wait, when did he sit down? Harry looks out of the alcove and their are no more students in the hallway. How long had he been sitting their? How many times did he replay the situation in his head? Why can he only hear Louis whispering ‘promise?’ in his ear? This is going to be a long day.   
Before heading to his next class Harry makes a detour to the boys bathroom. He is already late, he can take a few more minutes. Once in the bathroom, he stands in front of the mirror and splashes cold water on his face to wash away the flush that is staining his cheeks. He needs to calm down if he ever wants to make it to class.   
Two more splashes of water and a pep talk later, Harry is walking out of the boys bathroom towards his classroom.   
….  
It is 3:00 pm and Harry is actually counting down the 300 seconds until school ends. 295, 294, 293… If anyone asked him what happened in school today Harry would just stare and smile at them. He has no idea, he doesn’t even remember if he ate lunch today. No wait, he did, he and Niall ate outside, Niall was talking a lot. He probably should have listened a little harder. 192, 191, 190…  
Harry starts putting all of his things in his backpack. As he is putting his pen back in the front pouch of this backpack he notices that his phone is blinking indicating that he has a text message.   
He pulls out his phone and almost screeches when he sees it is from Louis.   
Come over at 5:00, my mom is sending the girls out tonight. P.S i liked your sweater ;-) xxx  
X’s are kisses rights? Or are those o’s? Shit, Harry thumps at the reply button but is interrupted by a hand on his phone. His head jerks up to see his teacher standing in front of him.   
“Mr. Styles, class is not over, that means it is not time to use your phone or time to pack up your things. You are obviously in a rush and have decided that your things are more important than what I am teaching you. Therefore, I will take your phone and you can earn in back from me after the bell rings by helping clean up.”   
5, 4, 3...Harry’s head falls to the desk. 1...The bell rings and everyone starts to shuffle out of the classroom. The same girl who had giggled at him at the beginning of the day appears at his side. Where does she keep coming from? Who is she? “ Seems like you are having quite the day, England?” She smiles at him, but giggles as she walks away.  
Harry doesn’t give the girl another thought and instead stands up and walks towards the teachers desk. He sits at the chair in front of his teacher and waits for further instructions.   
An hour later, and three classrooms worth of cleaning later. Harry gets his phone back and walks towards his locker. He walks past the hidden alcove and his heart leaps in his chest and his breathing becomes shallow. He knows that Louis isn’t there this time, but he doesn’t think he will be able to walk past this alcove ever again without feeling Louis’ lips on his.   
It is 4:00 when Harry finally walks out of school. He has 45 minutes to kill and doesn’t want to go home because he will end up changing again and be late. He opens Louis’ text again and reads it...What did he mean about liking his sweater, it is just a sweater. Harry pulls the sleeve over his face while he walks down the sidewalk. He breathes in slowly and it hits him immediately. Of course Louis liked the sweater, it's HIS sweater. Harry doesn’t know how he missed the smell before, it is distinctly Louis.   
The sweater must have gotten shoved in Harry’s bag at the bungalow. No wonder it is so small. Oh god, should he go home and change? Louis probably thought he wore it on purpose! That is so embarrassing, they aren’t even dating, Harry can’t wear his clothes! Harry turns around and starts heading towards his house to change.  
A block from school Harry is still berating himself for wearing Louis’ sweater all day and not realizing. Then he remembers the text, I like your sweater. Does that mean that harry shouldn’t change? Did Louis like Harry wearing his stuff? He had given him a pair of his shorts...but this is like different.   
He really wants to call Niall and ask him what to do, but knows that Niall will be absolutely no help in this situation. Gemma is at work and won’t pick up. Harry thumbs through his contact until he finds the perfect person.  
The phone rings three times and then a voice answers on the other side, “Hey man whats up?”  
Harry doesn’t even breathe and just starts shouting into the phone, “Okaay so I have a date with Louis tonight, well yeah it is a date, it’s at his house, he is cooking or something, and well, I accidentally wore his sweater today like it got packed in my stuff or something and I didn't’ know it was his, but I wore it today and then he texted me and said he liked the sweater with a winky face but I don’t know if I should change of stay in the sweater. Is like creepy to wear his clothes to his house or god damnit. Zayn help me!!!”   
Harry finally inhales, he pulls the phone away from his face and sees how sweaty it has become. He quickly wipes it on his pants and puts the phone back to his ear just in time to hear zayn start to laugh.   
“First of all, calm down. You could literally show up in onesie pajamas to Louis’ house and he would be stoked. Knowing Louis he probably totally got off to the idea of you wearing his clothes.” Zayn is still laughing but his words seems sincere.  
“So like you are saying to wear the sweater?” Harry’s words have slowed down to his normal tortoise like speed.  
“Hazza, I am not going to tell you what to wear. I will tell you that Lou really likes you and nothing you wear will change that. Now, hang up the phone, go buy yourself a bottle of water and enjoy your date.”   
Harry exhales loudly, “Okay...um thanks Zayn. Sorry to freak out on you.”  
Zayn gaffas again, “You aren’t the first to call today, it is fine.” With that, Zayn hands up the phone.  
….  
Harry decides to pick up some things at the grocery store to make dessert at Louis’ house. Nothing fancy, just stuff to make homemade pudding and fresh fruit. He will let it set when they are eating and it will be perfect.   
Harry pays and leaves the store, by the door on his way out there is a young woman selling single roses. Without hesitation, Harry hands the woman the last of his money and picks out a little red rose. If he is going to be sappy, he is going to do it right.   
It is 4:45 now and Harry is only a few blocks from Louis’ house. He sticks his arm through the grocery bag and holds onto the rose with that hand as his sips at his bottle of water just like Zayn had said to. He thinks about texting Louis and saying that he is on the way but doesn’t actually have enough free hands for that so continues to walk. He won’t be too early, so it shouldn’t be an issue.   
At 4:53 Harry walks up to the door of Louis’ house, he is about to ring the doorbell when he hears Louis’ voice through the door.  
“Mum, you said that the girls would be gone by 5:00. Harry will be here any minute and I don’t want our dinner to be ruined by five little girls jumping all over him again.”  
There is a pause and then a woman’s voice can be heard, “Boo bear, calm down. I am getting them all in the car right now, we will be gone before he gets here. I will drop them off and then come back, but don’t worry, I will stay upstairs, you won’t even know I am here.”  
Louis’ groan can be heard, “Mum, seriously? Why do you have to be here, like go to a movie or out to dinner or something? I am 18, I take care of the girls all the time, why can’t I be alone in the house with Harry?”  
Harry can feel himself blush, he isn’t sure if he actually wants to hear Louis’ mum’s response so he presses his finger into the lit up button next to the door.   
“Shit” he hears Louis through the door.  
“Louis Tomlinson, watch your mouth, your sisters are here!”  
Harry can hear the sound of feet running to the door, it sounds like many feet. As someone starts to open the door he can hear Louis one last time, “Fizzy, I got the door.”  
The door yanks open to a little girl grabbing onto Harry’s legs and Louis covering his face in his hands.   
From behind Louis, Lottie sticks her head out. “Well that is a pretty rose Harry, who is it for?” she says with a smirk.   
“Charlotte Tomlinson!” It seems that Louis’ mum is not on his side. “Get your sisters in the car and stop embarrassing the boy.”  
Louis’ mom walks over to harry and pulls him into a big hug, “ Hello Harry, sorry my daughters feel the need to attack you.”  
Harry just smiles and makes eye contact with Louis. Louis finally looks back at him and his eyes are sparkling. His hair is lightly styled and he is wearing a lilac sweater that is obviously way too big for him.  
The Tomlinson women are eventually shuttled out the door and Harry just stares at the boy in front of him. He doesn’t know whether to hug him or kiss him or stare. He goes to say hi but his words are interrupted half way though by Louis lunging at him and catching his lips into a soft kiss. Harry instantly forgets what he is going to say and loosens into the kiss.  
Louis pulls away suddenly, why does he always do that. “Oops.” he says, “You were going to say something?” Louis has positioned his arms around his back and is looking at Harry expectantly.  
“Yeah no” is all Harry can say before he brings his face back down to Louis. The shorter boy starts pushing Harry back towards a wall, his arms are wrapped tightly around Harry’s middle. Harry feels like his brain is short circuiting. He has since dropped his bag of groceries and now has his fingers tied up in Louis hair.  
Harry hears a loud cough from behind him and Louis suddenly pulls away again. Harry turns his head to see Louis’ mom staring at him. He can’t tell if that is a smile or a frown on her face.  
“And that Boo Bear, is why I will be back in a few minutes.” Louis’ mom grabs her purse from the table next to Harry and walks back out the door.   
Harry doesn’t know what else to do so he just falls on the floor and starts laughing. Nothing solves problems like uncontrollable laughter, right?  
Before he knows it, he feels Louis hit the ground next to him and erupt into even louder laughter. Both boys are rolling on the floor laughing hysterically. Harry can’t seem to catch his breath and his abs are starting to hurt.  
He rolls over and sees the rose he had bought and snatches it into his hand. He scoots his body on the wood floor so he is lying side by side with Louis. The older boy hasn’t stopped laughing yet, so Harry rolls onto his side and holds the rose in front of Louis’ eyes.  
“This is for you.” Harry’s voice is lower than usual and unnaturally quiet.  
Louis immediately stops laughing and turns on his side to stare back at Harry. He takes the flower out of Harry’s hand and smells it. “It is lovely, just like you.” Louis stretches out a little more to press a soft kiss on Harry’s lips.  
Louis grabs the front of Harry’s sweater and his face lights up, “I am glad you wore my sweater again, it looks really nice on you.”   
Turns out Zayn was right, Harry lets out a little giggle and reaches out for Louis’ sweater. “Your sweater seems pretty familiar too, Lou...Where did you get my sweater?” Harry doesn’t mind that Louis has it, in fact the way that the sweater makes Louis’ look all little and cuddly makes Harry’s heart warm.  
Louis darts his eyes around the room for a second like he is thinking about what to say. “Um, well I might have um…” Louis is fidgeting now, he sits up and pulls the sweater sleeves over his hands and runs his fingers through his hair. “When we were packing at the bungalow I saw it and like I kinda put it in my bag, but then I felt bad for taking your clothes so I put mine,” he motions to the sweater that Harry is wearing. “ in your bag so it would be like an even trade.”   
Harry’s mouth falls open, Louis had wanted Harry’s clothes back then. Does that mean that Louis had liked him then too? He didn’t think it was possible to be more infatuated with the boy in front of him, but like always he was wrong. Harry starts to laugh again to loosen the tightness of his chest. “Louis that is the cutest thing I have ever heard.”  
Harry tries to cuddle up closer to Louis, but without realizing it, Louis is suddenly on top of him, digging his fingers into Harry’s ribs. “It is not cute Harold! I am not cute.” Louis is merciless with his tickling and all Harry can do is wiggle around and laugh. Harry notices that the rose is now stuck between Louis’ teeth and he wants to stop and take a picture.  
Finally Louis gets off and stands up. He offers harry a hand, “We should probably start cooking before my mum gets back home and gets suspicious.” Louis ends with a wink.  
Harry follows Louis into the kitchen holding his grocery bag of dessert.   
"So, what are we making for dinner?" asks Harry when they enter the kitchen.   
"You are making nothing." Louis says as he searches the cabinets for ingredients.  
“What do you mean. I thought we were going to cook?” Louis turns around and smiles at Harry’s confusion.   
“I am going to cook for you. Just like you cooked for me at the bungalow.”  
And just because Harry can, he bends down slightly and presses a soft kiss to Louis and starts unpacking his bag. “Well then you can make the dinner, but I will make the dessert.”   
Harry hops onto the kitchen counter and is entranced by Louis flipping through his phone with his eyebrows squeezed into the middle of his forehead. Harry doesn’t say anything, just watches as Louis obviously finds what he was looking for and starts pulling things out of the fridge and pantry.  
Louis looks absolutely gorgeous as he preheats the oven and starts some water boiling. His bottom lip in constantly pulled between his lip in concentration. Every few minutes he keeps flipping through his phone again. Harry doesn't even ask what's for dinner, he is more than satisfied filling himself on Louis’ back flexing as he works over the counter.  
Harry is pulled out of his trance when he hears the back door open and Louis’ mom call out to them. “Louis, I hope you aren’t kissing that lovely curly headed boy again because I don’t want to see that again.”   
Harry barks out a laugh before he can stop himself and Louis drops the knife he was using to cut the chicken. Harry can see the blush spreading across Louis’ face. Before Harry can say anything, Louis’ mom is in the kitchen with them.   
“Louis what are you doing?” Louis’ mom asks, “Are you cooking? You didn’t tell me you were going to cook.”  
Harry jumps in, there are few times that he gets a chance to make fun of Louis with other people. “ He keeps asking me what everything is on the recipe, he even asked what the potato masher was.”  
Harry and Johanna start laughing together, and Harry is sure he hears Louis’ eyes rolling in his head.   
Louis puts the knife down again and crosses his arms across his chest, “If you two have quite finished, I have some cooking to do and you too comedians are getting in my way.”   
Harry catches one more look from Johanna as she walks out of the kitchen, over her shoulder she shouts back to harry, “Please don’t let him burn down my kitchen, Harry.”  
“Of course ma’am.”   
Louis gives Harry’s thigh a little slap and Harry quickly wraps his legs around the smaller boy and pulls him in. His arms wrap about Louis’ neck and the two boys are pressed together. Harry begins to litter Louis’ face with kisses thanking him after every kiss. “This is amazing Lou, you could make me a bowl of cereal and I would still be enamored.”   
After a few more kisses, and a quick bite to Harry’s neck, Louis pinches Harry’s side and reminds him that dinner is almost ready.   
When Louis is wrapping the bacon around the chicken, Harry starts to quickly whip up his custard. Once the custard is all mixed, he walks to the sink and starts to wash the whisk that he had to find himself because Louis had no idea what he was talking about. He turns around to see Louis dipping his finger into the fresh mixture. Louis isn’t looking at him, so Harry takes one long silent step behindLouis and wraps his arms around the smaller boy and grabs his tiny wrists.  
Harry is amazed again at just how small Louis’ wrists are. He drags his attention back to the moment and pulls Louis’ arm back and licks the custard right off of Louis’ fingers.  
“You can’t eat the custard before it is cooked and cooled Lou, now be good and put the chicken in the oven.”  
\---  
The rest of dinner flies by, the boys never stop talking and they are constantly touching. I knee bump here, a hand graze there. Harry eventually wraps his foot around Louis’ ankle and they settle into comfortable chatter.   
After Harry insists on washing the dishes (Louis didn’t really put up much of a fight), Louis suggests they take their dessert to the living room and watch a movie.   
…..  
Harry looks over and sees Louis glancing at his phone, and gets nervous “Um sorry, am I boring you?” He can feel his face fall into a pout, but he doesn’t have the heart to try and pull a smile back on.  
Until Louis pulls him even closer and pushes his curls out of his eyes, “Of course not love, you said that you had to be home by midnight and it is 11:55, I don’t want you to get in trouble.”   
Harry can feel his body sink further into Louis, he isn’t ready to go home yet. He hasn’t felt so comfortable ever in his life, and doesn’t think it is just because of Louis’ sweater that he is wearing.   
Harry sits up as straight as he can and looks Louis straight in the eye, “I am a big boy Louis, I will go home when I want.”  
“As the older, more mature boyfriend, it is my job to take care of you. You are my baby and I will treat you as such.” Louis pinches Harry’s cheeks, but Harry is just staring at Louis dumbfounded.  
“Lou,” Harry’s voice is quiet, “did you just call yourself my boyfriend?”   
“Oh um,” Louis is now pulling away from Harry and looking at the tv. “ I just thought, that we were, you know, like together. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out.”   
Without thinking, Harry pulls Louis on to his lap. He wraps his long arms around the older boy and pulls him close to his chest, “Louis Tomlinson, don’t ever apologize to me again for wanting to be with me. I thought I was alone in hoping that this was more than just two mates kissing.”   
Harry gently places his hands on either side of Louis’ face and pulls him in again. This time Louis tastes like custard and strawberries.   
The boys continue kissing, or ‘watching the movie,’ until the clock hits 12:45 am. Harry can feel the vibrations in his pocket from his cell phone; which has been vibrating for the past 15 minutes. He knows it is his mom asking where he is. He pulls it out of his pocket but before he can read anything, Louis pulls it out of his hand and thumbs open the messages.  
“Harry! It is your mom and she has texted you like 8 times. She really isn’t happy. Call her and tell her that you are leaving now. I will drive you home.” Louis pushes the call button as he hands it to harry.  
Harry quickly ends the call before his mom can pick up, “Lou, I don’t want to go. I like being here with you. I just want to stay on this couch forever.”   
With a quick kiss, Louis redials the number and presses it to Harry’s ear. While Harry listens to the ringing on the other end, Louis sits up to whisper in Harry’s other ear. “ I don’t want you to go either, but if you don’t leave now, you will never be able to come back and eventually i would like my mom to let us be alone in the house.”   
Just as Louis presses a quick kiss to Harry’s pulse point, he can hear his mom on the other side of the phone. “Harry Edward Styles, Where in God’s name are you? You were supposed to be home an hour ago!”  
Louis’ hasn’t stopped kissing Harry’s neck and that is making it very hard for Harry to actually answer his angry mom. “Um, hi Mum…”  
“Don’t ‘hi mum’ me, where are you, why aren’t you home?”  
Harry thinks about pulling away from Louis, but he decides that it would be a horrible idea. “Sorry, I just left Louis’ house. I lost track of time. We were writing new songs for the band.”  
Harry’s mom knows that he likes boys, but he hasn’t found a real need to tell her about Louis quite yet. He will probably tell her soon since they are official now, but right now doesn't seem like a great idea. And he really doesn’t think his mom wants to know that he is late because he was too busy making out on his boyfriend’s couch.   
“Well you better hurry yourself back to this house before you don’t get to leave for a week or I take your phone away.”   
Harry hangs up the phone and falls back into Louis’ kisses, but once Harry puts the phone down the kisses stop. The younger boys lets out a soft whine to encourage his boyfriend but it doesn't work.  
“Hazza, you need to go. I don’t want you mum hating me. We have plenty of time to spend together and you already lied to her about being on your way.” Louis nudges Harry off of him and stands up himself.   
With the biggest pout he could manage, Harry looks into Louis’ eyes, “Why are you trying to get rid of me? I thought you liked me...”  
Louis’ fingers find Harry’s ribs and begin to poke and prod until Harry can’t stop laughing, “Shut it, you menace. I don’t want to get rid of you, but I’d like to keep you so you need to leave now.” He shows he means business by slapping Harry across the bum and ushering him to the front door and handing him his shoes.   
\----  
Once Harry gets home, he is in heaven. He can’t wipe the smile off his face if he tried. He isn’t really trying though.   
Even when Anne meets him at the door with a scowl, Harry can’t stop smiling. It takes everything in him not to grab his mum and start dancing with her in the doorway. Instead, he gets a stern talking to about being late and making his mother worry, but she can tell that he is far happier than normal, so Harry gets to go to bed with little punishment.   
He leaves his mom with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to explain everything in the morning. Harry feels like he can hear his mind buzzing with a tornado of thoughts and emotions. When he reaches his room he quickly changes into Louis' shorts and t-shirt, despite the goosebumps running up and down his arms.   
Is this what a heart attack feels like? I think I might die. Seriously I don't think my heart is supposed to beat this fast. How did this happen? I mean 6 months ago I was in my Mum’s old house, sitting on my bed dreading moving to America, and now I am happier than I ever thought I could be, and because of a boy! Wow, I sound like a middle school girl, pull yourself together Styles. Whatever that's what he does to me, i don’t care if people know. I don't even know how he does it. No, I do know how. It's because he's almost perfect. Like, oh how does that song go 'all your perfect imperfections'. Yeah that's it. He's perfectly imperfect. I think that's what I love the most about him.   
.....  
The next week is full of studying for tests, band rehearsals, and stolen kisses. The Pentagons rehearse Little Things everyday after school. They take small breaks to study and even smaller breaks to eat so that Niall doesn’t die before the actual recording.   
Harry decides that he needs to invest in more chapstick because of all the kissing he is doing. The boys have also started to become more serious about carrying a spray bottle around with them for whenever Harry and Louis become “too loved up.”  
Harry’s heart catches in his throat the first time he is walking through the hallway and he feels a small hand slip into his. He turns to his left and watches as Louis rises onto his toes to press a soft kiss to Harry’s cheek while he rubs his thumb over Harry’s knuckles.   
Harry isn’t blind to the looks he gets from his classmates when he and Louis hold hands or steal a quick kiss before they go to class, but he honestly couldn't care less. He has Louis next to him all the time and 3 other best friends who are the biggest supporters of his relationship.   
It’s been a week since Harry came home late from Louis’ house and he finally tells his mum all about Louis. It takes 3 hours of gushing and two whole pots of tea for Harry to feel like he explains to his mum everything she needed to know. The smile on her face never falters as he tells her about how amazing he is, how good he is with his sisters, his voice, his eyes, and even when he tells his mum about their first kiss on stage. When he finishes, Anne just looks at him with hopeful eyes and asks, “So when do I get to meet him? You should invite him for dinner this weekend. I’ll make fajitas. “   
Harry agrees to have Louis over after their recording on Saturday.   
…..  
The boys all sleep at Niall’s house on friday night so that they can go to the studio together and get one last good rehearsal in. The boys finally decide to go to bed at 2:00 am to a movie. Niall is curled into the papasan chair, Liam and zayn dibbs the two couches in the basement and that leaves Harry and Louis with a nest of blankets and pillows on the floor.   
Louis wraps his arm around Harry’s chest and pulls him in close. Louis lays a soft kiss the Harry’s cheek and begins to speak. “It is strange not telling bedtime stories before I fall asleep. It is always my job to tell them to my sisters.”  
Harry turns in Louis arms so he is facing the older boy. “Well I know I am not your sisters, but you can tell me a bedtime story if you’d like.” With a kiss to the nose, Harry curls back into Louis’ chest.  
Louis uses his free hand to scratch Harry’s head and begins to speak so quietly that Harry has to work to listen. “Once upon a time, there was an elf that lived in a far away land. The elf’s name was Louis, he was a mischievous creature, he ran around the forest tying branches together so that people would trip and filling leaves up with water so when people walked under he could pour water on their heads. Louis was happy...until one day. He had just created the best trap for a passerby complete with a water leaf and a covered ditch and was waiting for someone to walk by. He was sitting in a tree waiting patiently when he felt the branch he was sitting on droop. He looked to his right and saw a beautiful fairy sitting next to him on the branch. The fairy had huge green eyes and little flowers tucked into his curly hair.”  
“That’s me!” Harry yawned.  
Louis smiled into Harry’s curls and continued with his story. “Louis was confused. 'Where had this beautiful fairy come from?' He wondered. Louis looked down to make sure nobody walked by, then when he looked back up, the boy was gone. Louis was disappointed as he sighed and continued to wait. After a few minutes, he heard a sound. He listened harder and decided that it was giggling. Somebody was laughing and he didn't know where it was coming from. He looked around and saw nothing. But then it stopped and he relaxed again. Then he heard a rustling, and leaves were falling all around him. His head shot up and saw the beautiful boy swinging his legs over a tree branch. The boys cheeks were an adorable shade of pink and deep dimples appeared on his face as he gave Louis a smile. "Oops!" He said. Louis was surprised, the fairy with the sparkling smile had a deep English accent. "Hi." Louis said cautiously, "What are you doing up there?" He asked. "Well, I saw you sitting there and you looked lonely staring at the ground. So I came to sit with you, but then you looked at me funny and I thought you were going to be mean to me so I left." He said with sad eyes. "You aren't going to mean to me are you?" the young fairy asked. Louis looked into his emerald green eyes and smiled. "I wouldn't be mean to such a pretty face. That's bad manners!" He said. "I'd love it if you would come sit with me." Louis carefully moved his water leaf and shifted over. The fairy fluttered his long wings and sat next to Louis. "What's your name?" The boy asked. "Louis" he said softly. "I'm Harry!" The fairy announced. Louis forgot about his trap and the water and was intrigued by Harry. For the rest of the day the two talked and laughed together and when the sun began to set, they promised to meet at the exact tree branch the next day. And they did the same everyday for a really long time.”  
"Lou, that's was adorable" Harry says through a yawn. He had forced himself to stay awake through the entire story, and finally falls asleep to Louis’ soothing voice and a hand running through his hair.  
The next morning is hectic. The boys wake up at 6:00 to get to the studio across town by 8:00. Harry, of course, wakes first. Followed by Liam, then Louis, then Niall, and lastly Zayn. Everyone is humming, eating, and fixing their hair. Liam finally rushes everyone out of the house and into the car. Louis driving, Harry sitting next to him, and Niall, Zayn, and Liam in the back. They blast music from the speakers and happily make their way to the recording studio.  
Once they enter the lobby, all of their excitement leaves their body and is instantly replaced with nerves. They meet Simon, the man who will be running the recording today.   
"Hey, guys, I’m Simon. it is great to meet you. I heard the recording from the battle of the bands, I’m really excited to hear what you guys bring today.”  
Liam sticks out his hand with a flourish. “Hi sir, I'm Liam. We are The Pentagons. It's great to be here. We are really excited to learn from you today. Please let us know what we can do to be better at any point.”  
Harry sticks his hand out to shake Simon’s hand.   
“Hello. M’ Harry. This is Louis, Zayn, and Niall.” Harry gives Simon his best dimpled smile and nods to the boys.  
“Nice to meet you guys. Well lets get started. Theres a lot you need to learn before we can begin the recording process.” Simon nods his head and leads The Pentagons to the elevators. Once they step in, they can see out the back wall that is made out of glass. All around them there are people walking with cellphones pressed to their ears, coffee cups in one hand and binders and clipboards in the other. Recording booths line the boulding. Above most of the doors, small green lights flash, signaling people to be quiet. There is a small ding, and everyone walks out of the elevator. They continue down a long hallway and stop in front of a door.   
“Okay boys. Here is where you will be recording. But before we go in I have to make sure that none of you have any sort of food or beverage.” Simons says and immediately, all eyes turn to Niall.   
“Why is everyone looking at me?” Niall innocently asks.   
“Because you’re like a walking refrigerator.” Louis says.   
“Well, I have nothing but a pack of gum.” he says. Everyone turns back to Simon.   
“Okay good. So when we get in please make yourselves comfortable. Just please don't take your shoes off. After a while it's horrible, especially with 5 teenage boys.” he winks and unlocks the door with a large set of keys.  
Harry’s heartbeat speeds up. Louis must notice because he takes Harry’s hand in his. Harry is immediately calmed and is reminded of a certain song lyric. He looks down and gives a smile to the smaller boy. They both take a deep breath and walk into the studio together. Laughing as they get caught in the small door frame. When they focus on the sight around them, they are instantly mesmerized.   
The whole room is lined with instruments and pictures of other people who have recorded in the booth.   
Once Simon pulls the boys away from the wall of photos, he asks the boys to set up for the song. Without hesitation the boys sit in their usual formation: Louis on one side and harry on the other.   
Simon hands out headphones to all the boys and explains that they will play the song several times while the music technician behind the glass adjusts the sound.  
The Pentagons spend all day recording in the small claustrophobia inducing room. The boys catch on to the equipment quickly and Simon is impressed. They record Little Things countless times and by afternoon they have recorded their first single. When they listen to the song for the first time, Liam and Zayn try to look like they're not crying, and Niall is sitting on the floor smiling at Louis and Harry as they dramatically look into each other's eyes.


	8. April

Prom is officially two weeks away and Harry has been practicing his dance moves in his mirror for the past hour. He isn’t the best dancer and he really doesn’t want to embarrass himself in front of Louis. At his old school, he was a lot more confident about these sort of things but when he’s around Louis he can’t concentrate.   
Holy shit this is hard. I don’t even like dancing. No, thats not true, I’m just not good at dancing. It’s too hard. The only reason I’m doing this is because of Louis. If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be freaking out in my bedroom at 12:32 in the morning. Okay, I’m done with this. I’ll just wing it. Now I have to figure out what I’m gonna wear. I dont know if it’s formal or not. But it’s prom, so maybe yes? Urgh, I’ll just ask Gemma in the morning. But, I don’t want to seem too eager,   
Harry exits out of “top 100 prom songs” on Youtube and puts away his laptop, brushes his teeth and lies down in bed. His thoughts are still buzzing through his head. Finally, his eyes fall and his dream are full of slow dances, meaningful smiles, and sparkling blue eyes.

…..

The biggest night in Harry’s life only two days away, and the whole senior class is buzzing with excitement. Niall and Harry are walking to Niall’s house for dinner while Niall is telling him every detail about him asking Sofia to prom.   
“Haz, bro, I swear I’m the most romantic person, who has ever lived. It was literally the most perfect thing ever. So we walk into the pizza place,”   
“Niall, you asked Sofia to go to prom with you in a pizza restaurant?” Harry asks.   
“Dude you don't understand. She loves pizza. Like every time we go out, I ask what she wants for dinner and the answer is always pizza.”  
“You two are perfect then” Harry says with a cheeky smile.   
“I know right! Anyway, we were sitting there and I was like ‘Um, Sofia’ and she was like, ‘Um, Niall’ and I was like, ‘So, are you going to prom?’ And she was like, ‘I don't know, nobody has asked me’. Then she smiled at the ground, all shy like and it was the most adorable thing ever. So then I was like ‘Well, would you like to go with me?’ and she started blushing and smiling and was like ‘I would love to go to prom with you Niall.’, And then we were all coupley, you know.” Niall takes in a deep breath and is smiling widely.   
“Thats great Ni. I’ll be expecting an invitation to your wedding in a few years.” Harry jokes. He turns and sees, for the first time, Niall blushing.   
“Yeah, maybe” he mumbles. Harry pretends not to hear him as they continue walking. After a few minutes of quiet Niall begins again.   
“So, has Louis asked you yet?” he asks. Harry stops in the middle of his step and his breath stops short.   
“Holy fudge monkeys Niall no! Oh my gosh does that mean he doesn't want to go with me? What if he’s embarrassed because I’m a guy. What if he’s trying to break up with me? Niall I don’t think I could make it to graduation if that happened.” Harry’s thoughts start to race as he frantically runs his hands in his hair.  
“Woah, Harry calm down. I was just asking. I’m sure he wants to go with you. Maybe he just assumes that you guys are already going together. I wouldn’t worry about it, and I definitely wouldn’t pull your curls out… Lou apparently loves your curls.” Niall pats him on the back and continues walking.   
“Yeah you’re right Niall. But, what if he doesn’t ask me? Then I know I’ll be really awkward and uncomfortable.” Harry sighs. Niall turned around, puts both of his hands on Harry’s shoulder, and looks him in the eye.   
“Dude, calm down. Louis Tomlinson likes you..like a lot. And if he doesn't ask you to the prom, then you will just ask him.” Niall’s sudden seriousness takes Harry by surprise and he doesn't really know how to respond. Niall knows this of course, so continues.   
"I know how you feel. It was the same with Sofia. Like, I really don't know if we're even dating. Like I've kissed her, but I didn't know if she wanted to go with me. So I just asked and now we're going. It's the same with you." Niall finishes his speech and slowly begins to pull Harry along with him.   
"Yeah you're right Niall." Harry sighs, yet again and walks faster.   
"Dude dude!" Niall stops in front of Harry and pulls out a little gold chain from his pocket and yells,  
"#NARRY!"  
Both boys laugh for a second, but Harry’s mind is still going a thousand miles a minute. He stops Niall and grabs his shoulders so that he has all the other boy’s attention. “Niall, you have to help me now! I am going to come up with the most romantic way to ask Louis to prom. If he won't ask me, then I will ask him. I will blow his socks off...or well not his socks because you know like he doesn’t wear any…” Harry’s mind visibly wanders, “god he is cute.”   
Niall reaches out to tickle Harry back into reality, “that’s the spirit, let’s go to my house and watch every stupid prom movie ever so we can think of the best thing possible.”  
As the boys continue to walk, Harry offhandedly comments, “You know Ni, you really should have had the pizza place write ‘PROM’ in pepperoni or something.”  
“Shit Styles, where were you the other day. That is golden!”   
......  
Niall and Harry spend the rest of the night watching movies and doing google searches to find “best way to ask someone to prom.” Finally after many hours of research Harry has an idea.   
He always had a thing for Heath Ledger, so he is going to go ‘10 things I hate about you style.’ Niall calls his friends in the marching band and gets a group that is willing to play during Louis and Harry’s P.E class so that Harry can sing for Louis. It is a good thing that Niall is literally friends with everyone and can make this happen with less than 24 hour notice.   
Harry knows that this is a grand gesture, but he thinks it will be completely worth it when Louis says yes and jumps into his arms.   
“Okay so you have a plan now Hazza, but what song are you going to sing? Are you going to go completely Ledger and sing ‘can’t take my eyes off of you? It’s a good song, i’d approve.”  
Harry thinks quietly for a while. He could do “can’t take my eyes off of you,” like Niall said, it is a good song, it fits with how he feels about Louis, but he also has this new song that he just wrote that he wouldn’t mind sharing with Louis.  
“I think i am going to do Truly, Madly, Deeply.”  
“That savage garden song about bathing in the ocean? Really dude? That is like kinda intense or something.”   
Harry laughs, he has no idea what song NIall is talking about and who is Savage Garden? “ Ni, I didn’t even know there was a song called that, no it is a new song that I just wrote and I think it would work.”  
Without missing a beat, “Did you write it for Lou?”  
Harry blushes. Niall keeps talking, “I figured, if you wrote it for him it will probably work. Can I hear it?”  
Harry agrees and pulls out his brown notebook from his backpack and flips through the pages. “It isn’t quite finished but I like how it is so far. I will probably only do part of the song anyway.” Harry clears his voice and starts to hum a melody. His eyes are trained on his notebook but he starts to sing through his smile.   
“Am I asleep am I awake or somewhere in between, I can't believe that you are here and lying next to me, Or did I dream that we were perfectly entwined, Like branches on a tree, or twigs caught on a vine. Like all those days and weeks and months I tried to steal a kiss; And all those sleepless nights and daydreams where I pictured this; I'm just the underdog who finally got the boy; And I am not ashamed to tell it to the world!  
Truly, madly, deeply I am; Foolishly, completely falling; And somehow you kick all my walls in; So baby say you'll always keep me; Truly, madly, crazy, deeply in love with you...In love with you.”  
Once Harry finishes his song, Harry looks up to find Niall clapping him on the back. “ you are kinda a giant sap, but Louis is a lucky guy. Maybe i should start writing love songs…”   
“about what, pizza?” Harry could feel all the emotion in the room from his song, and his joke was just what was needed to relieve it.   
Niall repays him with a slap to the chest. “ alright funny man, lets figure out what the band is going to play behind you. Sofia and I are going shopping for prom attire tonight and I need to kick you out before she gets here. “   
The boys spend the next hour sitting on the floor writing some rhythms for the band to play behind Harry’s singing. It is nothing too complicated just a simple melody.   
Harry leaves Niall to brush his teeth and put on after shave to get ready for his shopping date.   
….  
Harry is lying in bed listening to Arctic Monkeys when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. He hasn’t heard from Louis all day, so his butterflies return to his stomach hoping that it is him and not just Niall asking what a corsage is.   
New message: <3 Lou <3   
Harry swipes his finger over the screen as fast as he can. Harry reads the message carefully and his smile gross all the way to his eyes.   
Hi love, grab a jacket and come downstairs I have a surprise.  
Harry doesn’t even bother responding just grabs his fake fur lined denim coat (it might be Louis’ come to think about it) and runs down the stairs. Well not so much runs as quietly scampers. It is almost midnight and his mother might actually kill him if she knew he was sneaking out.  
Once Harry is sure that his front door is securely closed and no lights have turned on in his house, he takes on a full sprint towards Louis’ car parked a few houses down.   
Louis is there to meet him with his arms open ready to pull the taller boy in close.   
Harry barely gets a kiss in before Louis is turning him around and tying a scarf around his eyes. Harry isn’t too worried, he trusts Louis completely, but still this is a bit strange.   
“Um hi Lou, what are you doing?”   
Louis raises on his toes to give Harry a quick chaste kiss and whispers into his ear, “I told you I have a surprise for you. Now be good and get in the car.”  
Before Harry can protest, Louis puts his hand on the small of Harry’s back and helps him into the car. He gives the younger boy an eskimo kiss and runs to the other side of the car and hops in.  
It is a 15 minute drive of Harry constantly asking where they are going and Louis telling him to stop trying to ruin everything.   
Once the car stops, harry can hear Louis getting out of the car. He then hears the back door open and Louis taking something else out of the car. A few moments later, harry can hear the passenger door open and feel Louis’s hand gently wrap around his wrist and escort him out of the car.   
Harry still can’t see anything, but he can hear the faint sound of trees rustling and water lapping against the ground. He can smell trees and feel the calm wind brush against his face. It isn’t cold by any means but his jacket feels nice wrapped around his shoulder.  
Louis finally speaks as he tells Harry to sit down. There is a blanket below Harry so he sits cross legged looking at where Louis’ voice is coming from.  
Harry can feel louis getting closer to him, and can feel his breath against his face. Harry turns his face towards the breath expecting a kiss, but instead he feels Louis carefully untying the scarf around his eyes.  
Once Harry fixes his vision, he looks around and sees that the two boys are sitting at a park near a lake. There is no street lights anywhere, so the stars are lighting up the sky. Harry looks away from the sky and looks at the blanket that he and Louis are now sitting on. There is small lantern sitting next to Louis, a single rose and Louis’ keyboard. Harry opens his mouth to say something when Louis muffles the words with his lips.   
He kisses Harry fully and pulls himself closer to the shocked boy. Louis finally ends the kiss and begins to speak before Harry can even construct a thought.   
“Harry, “ Louis starts, his hands are shaking a little and he softly places them on Harry’s knees. “I wanted to do something nice for you. And I wanted to say all these lovely things about how perfect you are and how much I care about you, but every time I started to write stuff down It just sounded stupid, you know. So then I thought that maybe I could write a song for you, like you did for me.”  
Harry swallows hard, his heart feels like it has grown at least six times bigger since the blindfold was removed. He starts to rub little circles on Louis’ wrist.   
“So I did, I wrote you a song and I took you here to play it for you. But like, I hope you don’t mind cause I kinda borrowed one of your ideas that I read in your notebook and then tweaked it a little bit and finished it. It might really suck though..”  
Harry just keeps nodding at the amazing boy in front of him. Does he mind that Louis borrowed a song idea...NO! Louis could literally sing him the ABC’s right now and Harry would melt into his arms.  
Louis’ smile begins to reappear on his face as he grabs his piano from behind him and places it on his lap. “I called it ‘Strong,’ and it is how I feel about you.”   
Harry can already feel tears forming in his eyes and Louis hasn’t even started playing yet.   
Along with the sound of rustling trees and soft wind, Louis starts to play a melody, first with just three or four different notes. Louis looks up and makes eye contact with harry before he starts to sing straight into Harry’s eyes.   
“My hands, your hands, Tied up like two ships; Drifting, weightless. Waves try to break it. I'd do anything to save it. Why is it so hard to say it. My heart, your heart, Sit tight like book ends. Pages between us, Written with no end. So many words we're not saying, Don't want to wait till its gone. you make me strong!  
I'm sorry if I say I need ya, But I don't care I'm not scared of looove. Cause when I'm not with you I'm weaker. Is that so wrong, is it so wrong, That you make me strong.  
Think of how much loves that's been wasted, People always trying to escape it. Move on to stop their heart breaking. But there's nothing I'm running from. You make me strong.  
I'm sorry if I say I need ya, But I don't care I'm not scared of love. Coz when I'm not with you I'm weaker. Is that so wrong, is it so wrong.”  
By the time the song ends, Harry is actually sobbing. He hasn’t looked away from Louis at all during the song, but his vision is completely blurred and he is squeezing his hands together so tight that he can’t even feel them anymore.  
Harry says the first thing he can think of, “You can steal all my songs if you make them sound like that. “ His words are interrupted by sniffles, but he powers through his sentence.   
Louis looks a little confused about whether it was a compliment or dig at using Harry’s ideas, so Harry launches himself into Louis’ lap pulls the smaller boy into a deep kiss. The boys kiss till they need to come up for air, but Harry just keeps kissing louis face, his eyes, his nose, his cheeks. He refuses to let this beautifully amazing boy out of his arms in the near future.   
Harry feels Louis’ arm move away from his back and he turns to pout at Louis but is greeted by a red rose in his face.  
Louis is smiling, “Harold...will you go to prom with me?”   
Harry’s jaw drops.  
Louis softly presses Harry’s jaw back to where it should be, “That is a yes, right?”  
“Lou, you absolute shit! I thought you weren't going to ask me, I was a proper mess earlier today and made plans to ask you and then you go and do all this romantic shit and stuff. Argh!” Harry ducks down to nuzzle into Louis’ neck.   
“Early bird gets the worm darling, you can have the next ask.”  
With that, Harry bites into Louis’ neck.  
Louis yelps and pushes Harry off his lap and attacks his sides until both boys are rolling around the blanket laughing uncontrollably.   
….  
With his hand on Harry’s thigh, Louis drives Harry back to his house, turning off his light as he gets close so no one wakes up.  
As Harry is getting out of the car he sheepishly asks, “What do we wear to prom?”  
Louis just laughs and his eyes crinkle and light up with the moonlight. “Don’t worry, love, we'll go shopping this weekend and find something fantastic for both of us. I think you would look great in a blue vest.”   
Harry leans in to kiss his boyfriend, “You just want me to match your eyes, don’t you?”  
Louis steals another kiss, “You can wear whatever you want babe, you could go naked for all I care. I will still be the luckiest guy at the dance.”  
“You are a sap.” and i love you. Luckily, Harry stops himself before he utters the three words, but it doesn’t stop him from thinking how true the words really are.   
….  
It is 8 am and Harry is too excited to sleep anymore and runs downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs, he runs straight into his mom and Gemma talking.  
“Easy there killer.” Gemma jokes with a smile. “What has you up this early and so happy?”  
Without thinking Harry blurts out, “ I am going to prom and today I am buying clothes and I think I am in love!”   
Harry slaps his hand over his mouth, but it is too late to keep the words in this time.   
Anne takes her son by the hand and brings him into the kitchen and sets a cup of tea in front of him. “Here darling, drink this and tell me all about Prom and Louis.”   
......  
Harry’s conversation with his mom is cut short by a text from Louis saying that he is picking Harry up in 15 minutes. In his eagerness, Harry pushes the kitchen chair back too fast and it crashes to the ground. He quickly picks it up as he yells and apology and runs back upstairs to quickly jump in the shower to get the smell of sleep off his skin.   
Once out of the shower, he slips on his best pair of tight black briefs, you know, to not mess up the lines of his tux pants. Then, covers them with his favorite black jeans and a simple green t-shirt and runs downstairs just in time to see Louis pull into the driveway.   
With a quick kiss to Anne’s cheek, Harry is out the door and jumping at Louis who is already getting out the car.   
“Why are you getting out of the car?”  
Louis pulls Harry into a quick kiss, “Well I was going to go talk to your mom about prom but you rushed out here so fast I barely had time to take my seat belt off.”  
Harry doesn’t let go, just leans back into Louis’ arms, “Talk to my mom about prom? Why? Like ask her permission? This is prom Lou, you aren’t asking me to marry you.”  
Harry swears he could hear Louis mumble “yet.” But he lets it go when Louis is pulling him back in for a kiss.   
“Alright, alright. I will talk to your mom later, lets go get some fancy shit to wear next weekend.”  
….  
The first suit that Louis puts on makes Harry feel like he swallowed his tongue. He is actually at a loss for words when Louis steps out of the dressing room. He knew that Louis was beautiful, but Louis in a suit is just really unfair to the rest of the world.   
His suit is a navy blue and it fits him perfectly. It is form fitting in all the right places, emphasizing his tiny waist and plump bum. Harry is pretty sure that he’s drooling over the beautiful boy in front of him. He can see Louis looking at himself in the mirror, his lips turned into a half smirk. Suddenly, Louis spins around too quick for Harry to wipe his mouth and disguise the hearts popping out of his eyes. Louis gives him an amused look before bursting out into a full laugh, immediately filling the quiet store with pure happiness. Harry looks into the the mirror and can see his cheeks set in a deep crimson.   
“I’m sorry Hazza. I shouldn't have turned so quickly but I don't think your eyes are supposed to be that wide,” Louis laughs again. Harry avoids Louis’ eyes and looks at the mirror. His eyes widen at the sight of how pink his cheeks are. Before Harry can continue his embarrassment, Louis turns back to the mirror and tilts his head to the side a bit.   
“Okay enough Haz. What do you think about this?” he asks. Harry smiles wide and stands up. He walks over to Louis and wraps his arms around his waist and rests his chin on his head.  
"Lou, you look beautiful," he whispers in his ear. Harry looks into the mirror to see Louis give him a shy smile.   
"Pumpkin, I appreciate the compliment, but your opinion is very biased."   
"But it's true! You look gorgeous, pinkie promise,” Harry says as he raises his little finger. Louis look up to him and gives him an amused smile. Harry gives him the biggest smile he has, making Louis erupt with the beautiful music that is his laughter.   
“Thank you very much kind sir, but I’m going to ask the worker person thingy what he thinks.” Louis says as he begins to walk out of the small room. Before Louis can get through the door Harry steps in front of him.   
“No! You can't go in there! Then everyone will ask if you're some kind of celebrity or model and you'll get famous and then I’ll never see you again!” Harry says with a pouty lip.   
“Harold you are so melodramatic. That won’t happen. And if it does, then I will just show them my beautiful boyfriend and they will forget about me and want you. So, maybe you shouldn't go out either.” Harry takes a step closer to Louis and wraps his arms around him again.   
“I wont forget you Lou,” He says as he studies every part of Louis’ eyes. Louis’ eyes light up and crinkles appear as he laughs,   
“You’re so sappy Harold, really.” Louis winks at Harry and dramatically struts out of the dressing room. Harry has a ridiculous smile on his face as he waits for Louis to come back. Settling on the over-stuffed couch Harry closes his eyes and sighs.   
How? How did I end up here? I swear I’m literally the happiest teenage boy in high school. All because of Louis Tomlinson. The most beautiful boy in the world, and I, Harry Styles, get to take him to the senior prom. Wow. And he looks amazing in his suit. Like I was surprised to see that it was blue, but when he came out.... Calm down Harry, you’re in public. Oh god. I’ll never be able to look that good. I don’t even like suits. Of course I would wear one for Lou but I probably choke myself trying to tie a tie. Why are clothes so difficult. Like, who decided that certain clothing is appropriate for certain events? I should just wear a t- shirt and jeans just to make a point. No Harry. You have, no need- to look Louis worthy. Blah, I’ll just ask him to pick out my outfit. Yeah. Problem solving Harry.   
“I am back! I am back with the approval of you, myself, and the salesperson guy.” Louis announces while skipping into the small room.  
“See, I told you you look amazing.” Harry says.   
“Harold please,” Louis sasses while dramatically placing his hand on his hip. “I look better than amazing. I’m the three F’s!” Harry tilts his head in confusion.   
“The three F’s? What the hell is that? Should I be worried.”  
“Harold! The three F’s are simply the highest form of amazingness.” Louis explains. But of course, Harry is still very confused. Louis shakes his head,   
“Fabulous, Flawless, and Flamboyant!” Louis yells. Harry laughs and covers his face with his hands.   
“Louis William Tomlinson! You are a genious! How come everybody doesn't know about this!”  
“You only know about it when you achieve such greatness. Now, I'm getting this suit. So what are you going to wear?” Louis asks.   
“Lou, you know I’m shit with clothes. Can you pick for me?” Harry begs.   
“Fine but you can complain or second guess me. Okay.” says Louis.   
“I PROM-ise!” Harry burst out in laughter and claps his hands. When he calms down enough he looks back to Louis. Who is shaking his head, obviously trying not to let out a smile.   
“Love, your boyfriend is the best with jokes!” Harry says, giggling again. Louis rolls his eyes and disappears into a maze of silk, leather, and fake flowers. 

_____

“Niall get up! We have to pick up Sofia in three hours and meet everyone else for dinner” Harry yells from upstairs. It is officially Prom day and Harry is freaking out. He’s never been so anxious to go to a school dance. Niall spent the night at Harry’s house because Harry claimed to ‘need help dressing’.   
“Harry. I swear to god if you don't calm down, I’ll tell Louis it was you who spilled ice cream on your suit.” Niall says as he bounces up the stairs. Still dressed in last nights sweats and t shirt.   
“That wasn't my fault. You left your shoes in the middle of the floor. Just waiting for me to trip on.” Harry argues. “So it was your fault.”  
“Whatever Harry. I think you should thank me for going with you to the suit shop. It was very difficult listening to you think out loud about what Louis likes and doesn't like.” Niall coughs and clears his throat before mimicking Harry, “Ni, what if he doesn't like this color. What if we accidently match. That would be so embarrassing and then he’ll hate me for messing up prom for him.” When he finishes Niall is laughing so hard he is tearing up and Harry looks like he is about to slap him.   
“Yeah okay thanks Niall. Now go shower because you're all sticky and Sofia will refuse to dance with you.” Harry shoves Niall to the bathroom with a towel. Harry sighs and flops onto his bed.   
What is wrong with me. Why did I think it was a good idea to do this. I mean at prom there's dancing, and people, and people dancing. And then Louis will want me to dance with him. Or if he doesn't ask, Niall and Sofia will drag us because they’re just like each other. Louis is probably an amazing dancer and I’ll just be standing there rocking back and forth completely off beat. And then everybody will laugh at me. Cant we just like, eat pizza and ice cream and watch disney movies all night? That sounds a lot better than socializing. No Harry. No. You will go to dinner. You will go to prom. And you will dance. At least once. Maybe twice.   
….  
Harry has been dressed for twenty minutes already and is seriously second guessing that decision. At this rate he will have sweated through his shirt before dinner.   
“Haz, stop walking around the couch so many times, you are making me ill.” Niall is laying on the couch with a bag of chips in his lap waiting for the limo to pick the boys up in a few minutes  
Harry stops in his place and turns to look at Niall, “What the hell, Niall, how are you eating right now. You know we are all going out to dinner, and you know that you have crisp crumbs on your shirt. What am I going to do with you?”  
Harry continues his marathon around the couches and plays with the buttons on his shirt.  
Without warning there is knock at the front door and Harry actually screams. From the other side of the door, Harry can hear his date laughing, “Haz, open up I am here to whisk you away on a magic limo ride!”   
Louis’ smile could light a small country when the door opens and Harry is in his arms without missing a beat.  
The older boy takes a step back admiring the beautiful boy in front of him, "I like what you did with the shirt babe. It looks really good half unbuttoned like that.” Pure lust is visible in Louis eyes and he is biting his bottom lip as he stares at Harry.  
Harry’s face immediately heats up under Louis stare, and he starts to rebutton his shirt. “Oh it was an accident, I was just playing with it while I waited…”  
The explanation is cut short by Louis pulling Harry’s hands away and tilting his head up to kiss the mumbling boy.  
“Oi, get a room you too. We have to go to prom and making out on the doorstep will make us late.” Niall rushes past the others and jumps into the waiting limo.   
With one final kiss, Harry grabs the black and white scarf that Louis picked out and rushes towards the limo with Louis is tow.  
…  
Prom is in a ballroom at a local golf club. The whole ride there, everyone was talking about Sofia and Harry and how they're the clumsiest people in the world.   
"We just have longer legs than you guys! You wouldn't understand." Sofia says. Then, she and Harry flip their hair at the same time and everyone laughs.   
The limo drops the boys, and their dates, off right in front of the the giant wooden double doors. Niall helps Sofia out so she won't trip on her feet and everyone follows them through the doors.  
Behind the door is a coat check to the right, photo station to the left and stairs straight ahead that lead to dinner. Niall and Sofia race up the stairs, followed by Liam and his date Margarita. Harry starts to follow, but feels a hand wrap around his forearm. He turns to see Louis motioning towards the photo station.  
“Please H, I want a picture to remember this by.” Louis’ voice is so earnest and his eyes are open wide, there is nothing in the world that would make Harry say no to this boy.  
Harry slides his arm around Louis shoulder and starts walking towards the line. “ We won't need a picture to remember tonight love, it will be amazing.  
The boys wait in line wrapped in each other until it is their time to pose in front of the backdrop.   
They take their mark on the tape on the floor. Harry wraps his arms around Louis and rests his chin on his shoulder. The photographer has just finished moving them into the exact right spot and is counting down when Louis turns his head slightly into Harry and whispers, “I love you, Harry.”   
The flash of light blinds Harry just as he is sure his mouth drops open. He spins Louis around in his arms and stares at him in shock. Louis eyes are big and sincere and his smile stretches from ear to ear.   
Harry just keeps staring until Louis actually pulls him out of the photo space and drags him up the stairs.   
Harry knows 100% that he loves the boy in front of him, he has loved him since he first saw him so many months ago. He has never once stopped loving him. He will never admit it, but he has already decided how they will hyphenate their names and picked out baby names. So why can’t he just say it back...that is just it, he doesn’t think he could just say it. Harry wants to shout it, as loud as he can, so everyone can here. He wants to stand on top of the world and scream about his love for Louis Tomlinson.  
As if his mind is being read, Louis continues to pull Harry until they have found an open balcony door and the two boys are standing in the cool air underneath the stars.  
“Harry, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to say it out loud, I just got caught up in the moment. I mean no, I didn’t get caught up...I do love you, I just didn’t want to spring it on you like that. I am so sorry. You don’t have to say anything. I know it is really soon and like we are seniors and we don’t know where we will be next year, I just…”  
Harry lets louis continue for much longer that he should, but he loves when Louis gets nervous and starts rambling. But as Louis starts talking about the future, Harry knows he needs to step in. He crashes into Louis space and grabs the sides of the older boys face and kisses him hard to stop him from talking. Louis goes pliant in Harry’s arms and falls into Harry’s chest.   
Pulling away just enough to see Louis face, Harry holds Louis face in his hands and locks his eyes into the moonlight shining in Louis’ eyes.  
“Louis William Tomlinson, I have loved you since the day you walked into that band room. I am sorry I didn’t say it sooner, but I could never calm my heart enough to say it without shouting. I have loved you every minute of every day and will continue to do so until you don’t want me to anymore. I don’t care what happens next year, you have made this place home for me. You have become my home and no matter where we go next year, I will always come back to you.”  
There are tears in Louis’ eyes and Harry kisses them off the beautiful face in front of him before he continues.  
“I know we are young and that we haven’t actually known each other very long, but Lou, there is no where I would rather be than standing next to you. “  
Harry finally stops talking and brushes his thumb over Louis cheekbones. The space around them is silent. The wind has stopped, the animals are quiet and the deafening noise from the dance inside has magically ceased.   
Louis looks down at his arms that are resting on Harry’s hips. He looks up and there is a mischievous smile on his face, “I know this isn’t a competition, but I have loved you since you fell during the mile at P.E.”   
Both boys’ faces light up at the joke. Louis moves his hands to grab Harry’s arms and hold them in between the boys chests.   
“Harry, I want everyone to know how much I love you. I know we can shout it and everyone can hear but that isn’t enough for me. I want everyone to know that you are my everything just by looking at us.” Louis’ eyes shift down and stare at the writing on Harry’s wrist. “I want to get a tattoo, something that represents you, us. I want everyone to know that I am hopelessly devoted to you.”  
Harry is so touched that he doesn’t even mention the ridiculous Grease reference. “Yeah Lou, I want that too. We can get something that complements each other, something that goes together, something that will hold us together.”  
Louis pushes Harry into the wall behind him before Harry knows what is happening and kisses him hard. His hands are trapped in Harry’s curls. Harry can feel two heart beats through his thin shirt and pulls Louis closer.   
The kissing stops and Harry lets out a sad whimper, but is cut off by Louis’ voice, “Lets go now. I don’t want to wait. I know a place not to far from here, we can ask the limo to drive us.”   
…  
The ride to the tattoo parlor is a rush of ideas and kisses. The boys throw out ideas of hearts and arrows, birds and cages, music notes and lyrics, key and a lock. Harry is on his phone googling more tattoo ideas when Louis starts to pull his hand off of Harry’s knee.  
“Hey don’t let go of me,” Harry pulls Louis hand back. “You keep me anchored when I am all nervous, like before the battle of the bands.”   
“No worries H, I will never let you go, I am tied around your little finger.”  
Both boys stop and stare at each other just as the limo pulls up to the tattoo parlor. They get out of the car with smiles on their faces and walk through the doors of the tattoo parlor.  
“Hi guys, what are you here for.” The tattoo artist is looking at their joined hands and smiling.   
Harry jumps in, “Do you have any openings for tattoos right now? I know it is late, but this is really important.”  
The artist pushes two clipboards forward, “Of course, fill these out and we can get started. What are you guys thinking of getting?”  
“An anchor and a rope," the boys say in unison and turn to look into eachothers eyes like there lies the secret to life.   
…  
The boys run their fingers lightly over each others new tattoo as they walk out of the tattoo parlor.   
“What do you want to do now, Love?” Louis asks as he traces the anchor on Harry’s wrist.  
Harry looks down at the rope on Louis wrist and whispers, “Can we go back to prom for a bit, I really want to dance with you.”   
Louis’ smile grows fond and he raises harry’s hand to kiss his knuckles, “Anything you want love. If we hurry we can probably still make the last couple of songs.“   
…  
There is only fifteen minutes left of the dance once Harry and Louis return but they waste no time getting on the dance floor and waving to their friends who are giving them questioning looks.   
Louis wraps his arms around Harry’s waist and Harry intertwines his hands behind Louis head. Harry doesn’t know if the song is slow or fast but he pulls Louis closer and sways back and forth to the rhythm of their heart beats.  
Harry is pulled out of his trance by the DJ announcing the final song. He leans forward and kisses Louis softly on the lips and the music starts to play again.   
The younger boy start to giggle as the familiar song starts to play, “I can show you the world, Shining, shimmering, splendid. Tell me, princess, now when did you last let your heart decide?”  
As if on cue, both boys start to sing along with the song with the biggest smiles that either face could manage.   
Just as Alladin’s voice says not to close your eyes, Harry spins Louis and meets him back in place with a quick kiss. “I love you so much Lou.”  
Louis settles his head against Harry’s shoulder, “ And I love you H.”   
Louis and Harry continue dancing even after the last song is over. Their eyes never leave each others. They probably would have danced all night if it wasn't for Niall's shoe being thrown at their feet.   
“Niall! I told you to leave them alone!” Sofia yells as she tries not to laugh.   
“I’m sorry but the dance has been over for like an hour. I need to get you home.” Niall yells the last part extra loud to make sure the boys hear. Louis and Harry laugh as they turn to see Liam and Margarita sitting on the dance floor, sleeping on each other's shoulders. Zayn playing on his phone, and Niall and Sofia now running around yelling random song lyrics to bands nobody else has heard of.   
They are in fact that last seven people at the dance and people are starting to clean up around them.   
Louis’ newly tattooed arm reaches out for Harry’s anchor as they walk through the double doors to their limo. It is obvious that all of their friends are wondering what happened during the dance but no one is ready to ask the question.   
The ride home is filled with conversation about the food, music and people at prom. Harry doesn't listen to it and instead focuses on the feeling of Louis’ hand inside his own and the dull pain of his new tattoo pulling at his heart strings.


	9. June

It is graduation day and Harry is trying to figure out how to get his cap over all of this hair. Louis is sitting on his bed laughing and making faces at Harry in the mirror.   
Who’s stupid idea was it to get ready for graduation together, they are supposed to be at the school in ten minutes and Louis still doesn’t even have shoes on, not to mention the clothes that keep ending up on the floor.   
The boys tried to get ready but every couple minutes they would get distracted by the others’ words or lips and then time would pass without either boy noticing.   
“Harry, you are going to be late for your own graduation and I will not be happy.” He can hear his mother’s voice getting closer and he pulls his hair into a little half ponytail so that his cap will fit and throws shoes at Louis. Anne walks into the room. One look at Louis’ feet and a small smile forms on her lips.   
“Louis dear, would like some help putting on your shoes?” she asks with a motherly voice. Louis looks up and raises his eyebrows.   
“Well only because you asked,” Louis says as he hands her his left shoe. Anne laughs as she untie the laces and shoves them on his feet with a smack to his knee. Harry, finally getting the cap on his head looks at the two laughing.   
“Look at my princess getting special treatment on graduation day” Harry coos in a baby voice.   
Anne ushers both boys out of Harry’s room, but stops them to take at least fifteen pictures between the staircase and the front door before she lets them get into Louis car.   
Harry groans at all the pictures, but smiles knowing that he will be able to have these pictures forever.   
The ride to school is oddly tense. Louis doesn't talk much and just quietly sings along to the radio. He is more jittery than normal and Harry gently places his hand on his boyfriend's knee to calm him down. Just as Harry is about to ask what is wrong, Louis parks the car and starts to get out.   
Harry rushes out of the car and gets to Louis side in no time and wraps him up in a hug. “Lou, what's wrong. This should be a really happy day but you look like you might vomit.” Harry tries to laugh to break the tension but it doesn’t work.  
Louis’ face drops, “I'm just nervous, this is the end. In September, I couldn't wait for this year to be over and to leave this town, but now like I don’t know. I have you and the band and well basically you and I don’t want to leave that behind.”   
Harry pulls him tighter, “Babe, no one has decided what they are doing after graduation. Relax, it will all work out. You will have to do more than graduate high school to get away from me.”   
Louis lets his mouth stretch into a small smile, and Harry takes the opportunity to kiss him.   
“You are right Haz, we have all summer to figure out what we are going to do. Let’s just enjoy graduation and the party afterwards and go from there.” Louis kisses his boyfriend up against the car and rubs his hands along Harry’s lower back.  
From across the parking lot a familiar voice could be heard, “Oi, how many times do I have to tell you two to get a room. Hurry up you fuckers we have to go graduate.” Niall is running at them when Louis gives one last kiss.   
…  
Graduation goes well, Harry gets out of his seat and cheers when Louis walks across the stage. On his way back to his seat, Harry stops in front of Louis and gives him a quick kiss in front of everyone. Louis’ cheeks immediately flush when he can hear Niall’s catcalling from the other side of the gym.   
…  
After the ceremony Harry takes more necessary pictures with his family and friends before making his way over to Louis. The entire graduation ceremony he had been thinking about Louis’ fear of them not being together after graduation. He had barely heard his own name being called because he had finally came up with a plan for him and Louis.  
He runs at Louis who is taking pictures with all his sisters and jumps on his back to get into one of the pictures. Louis falls to the floor and suddenly all the little girls jump on top of the pile that is Harry and Louis. Harry can hear Louis’ mom laughing and the camera shutter clicking non-stop as he starts to tickle Felicite on top of him.   
Jay finally convinces all the girls to get off the floor and Harry pulls Louis away from the commotion. Without question, Louis laces his fingers with Harry's and follows into the school's courtyard.   
“Happy graduation.” Harry starts as he wraps his arms around Louis’ waist. “So I have been thinking about next year for along time and I think I figure out what I want to do.”  
Louis looks to the ground and takes a deep, uneasy breath, “ Okay...I get it. “  
Before Louis can say anything else, Harry covers Louis’ small lips with two big fingers. “Lou calm down, I think we should go on a road trip this summer. Just the two of us, then we can figure out what to do next...together.” Harry makes his point with a strong kiss to Louis’ lips.  
…  
It took some convincing for Ann and Jaye to let the boys go. They promised that they would call every other day and visit relatives along the way. But eventually, Anne kissed Harry goodbye and gave him a tupperware full of cookies for the road.   
“Call me when you get to Louis’ aunts house.”   
“Of course mum. We will be fine. I love you.” Harry kisses his mom one more time before he slides into the car next to Louis.   
Louis pulls out of the driveway and turns to look straight into harry’s eyes, “Where do you want to go H?”  
With a huge grin plastered on his face, Harry reaches across the car to grab Louis’ hand, “wherever you are is the place i belong.”


End file.
